What if one day, you’re hailing a cab to head to work when suddenly, things start falling from the sky? Would you take your iPhone and run into the nearest store to avoid the falling debris or would you jump the ever growing pile of garbage to figure out what is causing such a disturbance? If you chose the latter, then “The Incident” is an iPhone game you might want to look into.
As I described in my opening paragraph, The Incident starts with your character hailing a cab, when suddenly, things start falling from the sky. The debris falling from the sky range from small items like trophies, statues, and umbrellas to more heavy items like doors, metal pipes, and even vehicles.
As things fall from the sky, the top of the screen will flash to indicate an item is falling in a particular location. The flashing line also has a certain length to it, which is helpful in dodging these items. You’ll need to navigate your character away from them or he’ll get hurt. Navigating your character left & right is as easy as tilting your iPhone.
As the debris gathers together, you’ll need to have your character jump up by tapping the iPhone screen to reach a certain height in order to complete the level. If you find yourself stuck under some of the debris, you can shake the iPhone in order to free yourself in a bubble which will float you up to the top of the debris mountain. Each level takes you to a new height. Your adventure will take you from the city street, all the way up to outer space covering over 500,000 meters.
During your vertical journey, helpful items will randomly pop up. Balloons holding items such as coins, health packs, and protective gear will float upwards, which can be collected by navigating your character over to them. You’ll also be able to collect gems that are beamed down to give you an additional life. Not all items are helpful though as some of them can damage your character as well. These harmful items are easily distinguishable from the helpful ones, but can be difficult to avoid as you’re continually avoiding an onslaught of falling debris.
One of the things that drew me to The Incident was its visual style and soundtrack. Overall, the game has an 8-bit style in both its art and soundtrack. The main character, background art, and all of the items that fall from the sky have a simplistic beauty to them in its 8-bit style. Every item is easily distinguishable from one another.
FINAL THOUGHT: The Incident is a great game, although I found its replay value to be limited as there isn’t much left to do once you complete it. Aside from collecting trophies of items to be killed by and finishing off its list of achievements, there really is no reason to play it over and over again unless the developers produce additional content down the road.
If you’re considering buying The Incident, you’re in for a real treat, although you’ll probably feel disappointed once the ride is over.
The Incident ($1.99) – [iTunes Link]