George: Scared of the Dark review - The best platformer on mobile?

There are a lot of hardcore platformers on the App Store, which is weird if you think about it, since it's seen as a place for casual gamers. All the same, now you can add George: Scared of the Dark to that list.

But the genre lives and dies on its controls. They need to be sharp, they need to be precise, and you need to feel like they're there to support rather than hinder you.

And unfortunately George doesn't quite get it right. There are times when it's brilliant, but there are others when it lets you down. And that's the sort of thing that can stop fun in its tracks.

Auto pilot

The game is an auto runner that sees you controlling the titular hero. He sprints automatically through randomly generated levels, with you controlling the variety of jumps he can pull off. And I do mean a variety.

You tap to leap in the air, swipe to the left to perform a strange sort of backflip that slows you down, and swipe to the right to dash through the air. You use this slightly strange move set to progress through the levels.

The game looks gorgeous, all parallax scrolling and beautiful colours. There are skulls to collect as you play as well, and you get extra points for finishing the levels quicker. The problem is you might not get that far.

That's because the controls are just slightly the wrong side of perfect. They work brilliantly when they're working, but then you'll miss a jump through no fault of your own and you'll probably say a very naughty word out loud.

Timing is everything

It's a difficulty compounded by the length of the levels. Where something like League of Evil measures its content in milliseconds, here the levels just go on too long. Which makes you less likely to jump back in and try and get to the end.

And that's a real shame, because there's a lot to like in George: Scared of the Dark. It's clever when it gets things right, it's got its own style that makes it stand out among its more pixelated genre stablemates.

But the problems it has mean you're unlikely to stick with it for too long. With a few tweaks here and there it could be magical. As it is it's an experience that deals more in frustration than fun.

George: Scared of the Dark review - The best platformer on mobile?

George: Scared of the Dark has its moments, but it has too many frustrations to really recommend
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.