Game Reviews

Spoiler Alert

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Spoiler Alert
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| Spoiler Alert

Spoiler Alert is a strange sort of game. It takes the platformer, shakes it around, and comes up with something strangely unintuitive.

Where the very best leapers are about reacting to obstacles as and when they occur, this is about repeating a very specific set of moves, backwards.

And for a while it makes for a pretty entertaining escapade. The levels are tiny, and the controls are reasonably smooth. But as things progress you can't help but feel that the game runs its one good idea into the ground.

Be kind, rewind

The game starts when the credits roll. You're a chilli knight jogging backwards through a series of levels you've already completed. Essentially this is the iOS platforming equivalent of making sure you rewound a VHS tape before sending it back to the shop.

You need to bounce on the heads of dead enemies to revive them, leap through the dull spaces where coins used to be to put them back and, when you gain a special power, tap the screen to catch any projectiles as they make their way back to you.

It's reasonably smart, although everything looks pretty rough around the edges on an iPad Air's Retina display. Fonts are jagged, and there's a lack of polish that really shows through.

Sometimes the controls are a little unreliable as well. You tap to jump, but also tap to use your powers when you've got them. That can lead to a little confusion, with you jumping when you wanted to grab an axe.

A memento

It all comes together to make a particularly muddled experience. There's fun to be had here, but there's a lot of frustration as well.

The collision detection feels cruel sometimes, and the precision needed to complete each level robs the platforming of any free-flowing rhythm.

Spoiler Alert has a nice idea, but it doesn't quite manage to see that idea through the to the bitter end, instead becoming a little less fun with each leap.

Spoiler Alert

There's a solid idea at the heart of Spoiler Alert, but it never quite manages to turn it into a stellar game
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.