Spoiler Alert 1

Spoiler Alert iOS Review

Thanks. Regardless, remind me to write a more straightforward review next time if they make that, will you? Or maybe a prequel would be more fitting in this case. Maybe they held those ideas for Spoiler Alert II? So, it’s hard not to wish the game expanded on its clever core idea with greater panache. Doing things in reverse, just like doing things in slow motion, is a whole lot of fun. Not necessarily more levels, but to showcase more ideas. My only real complaint is I wanted the game to be more. Gameplay is solid, albeit at times basic, and the ideas on show are clever – resulting in it being an interesting break from the genre norm. When all is said and done, there is enough charm on show in Spoiler Alert to make it a fun game to play.

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But none of these faults are enough to make the game feel a chore to play. Accordions aside, the game’s shortcomings, such as the aforementioned petite lifespan, along with the realisation that many of the levels reuse concepts, almost verbatim, seen in levels before, takes some of the sheen away. Accordions are criminally underrated in gaming – so more accordions please. Whilst handing out plaudits, I’d like to point out the game has one of the most amazing upbeat accordion themes for the first world you play.

Moreso it held my interest for most of my time with it too, so I applaud it for that. Spoiler Alert tried this, and remains fun for the most part. Games these days may be lambasted for being too samey, but in truth it’s really quite difficult to hit upon an unique idea that is both fun and interesting. Because of this, just glancing over the unique sounding synopsis of Spoiler Alert was enough to garner my interest. Over the years, I have found I really enjoy games that flip the script on conventional ideas.

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Horrible, really. I’m rubbish. I personally completed everything on show in about 90 minutes, which is something that never happens, as I usually find interesting ways to fail when gaming. This total even includes the 10 extra, supposedly harder, levels you unlock for besting the main campaign. However, as none of the levels ever get fist clenchingly hard, there is a chance most will see Spoiler Alert come to a close on or around the hour mark. This obviously adds some extra playtime. As with all games boasting a puzzler mindset, there is some trial and error nature to it. There are only 90 main levels on show here, most of which are only a few short seconds in length. Perhaps the most disappointing part about the game is that it’s very short. Even though there is much to love, not all is great though.

When the game gets this mix of new ideas and challenging gameplay right the experience is top notch. As you uncomplete more and more of the game you deunlock some extra skills, tasking you with unbreathing previously expelled fireballs from your lungs, and unrolling yourself under once rolled tight spaces. As with most non wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey games, Spoiler Alert asks more of you as it goes on.

Sorry about that. If you do, then perhaps choosing to read this review was a bad idea. Not as world endingly bad as it could be then, unless you really value your time. Movies have taught us time paradoxes are possible life-ending nuisance. but here it just means restarting a level. If these are touched now, a time paradox occurs – which is bad. Conversely, if you approach a living enemy or a coin they must be avoided, as these were not fell or collected when time flowed forward correctly.

If you see a fallen enemy you must unjump it to life, if you see an opaque outline of a coin it must be put back in its place. The protagonist, a bucket-shaped-helmet-wearing-chili-shaped-thing, joyously backwards marches, and you must undo what was done during his unseen forward-facing run. Spoiler Alert is more ‘effect to cause’ than cause to effect. Instead of moving freely forward, choosing when to jump, what enemies to stomp, and what items to pick up, things are different here. Spoiler Alert looks like a platformer, but plays more like a puzzler.

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If not, you’ll probably be very confused by this point. But hopefully you figure out what I am up to before the end, and then this will all end up making perfect sense to you. Thinking ahead, it will probably be a right fecker for you to read though, and for that I am very sorry. I hope this endeavour does not come back to bite me in the ass as I approach my final conclusion . It can’t be that hard to do, right? So I thought I would write this review in reverse. Spoiler Alert is a game about doing things backwards

7 out of 10