The Incident is a physics-driven, retro-styled arcade action game from Big Bucket for the iPhone and iPad. The titular Incident should be a familiar enough situation: You, the player, are hailing a cab, when, suddenly, the universe starts trying to play Tetris on your head. Over the course of the game, you’ll climb the ever growing pile of debris, starting from street level, up over the mountains, and into the depths of space as the rain of random objects increases to frantic intensity. Though occasionally frustrating, The Incident is an enormously fun and clever game that you can pick up and put down at the whim of a moment’s notice.
The gameplay illustrates the beauty of simplicity: Tilt the device back and forth to move, tap the screen to jump, don’t get hit by falling objects. From time to time, you may get buried in the pile of whatever falling from the sky. When that happens, a quick shake of the device encases you in a protective bubble that floats you back to the top. 99% of the time, however, you run, you jump, you avoid, and that’s it. It’s easy to learn, and thus easy to have fun with.
Graphics and sound are nearly perfect. The artwork consists of colorful, beautifully rendered retro pixel art. The sounds of the hail of miscellany hitting the ground are big and satisfying, and the physics of the falling objects feels just right. This is all backed by a catchy chiptune soundtrack that is a joy to listen to, even if it does get a mite repetitive.
Death is frequent and, in the later levels, rarely fair. The top of the screen flashes to indicate where the next object will fall, but by the middle of the game, the advance warning barely comes in time for you to start dreading having to play the level over again. This is balanced somewhat by copious extra lives (I had 40 by the midpoint of the game), so it’s unlikely that you’ll be bested by the punishing final level, but it may be a frustrating experience for some.
The good news is, the variety of falling objects is amusing enough to distract you from the repetition. Every time you die, the game records what object killed you and saves a list of the last ten deathbringing household meteorites in a trophy room. Here are some of the things that killed me last time I played: A safe; a moai; a doghouse with a dog in it; Sputnik; a ham; a giant, pink teddy bear; a traffic light (still switching between red, green, and amber); Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow by Piet Mondrian… There are hundreds more.
The Incident is a universal app, something increasingly uncommon amongst games. I can see why Big Bucket didn’t bother charging for a separate app for the iPad, though: The iPad version of the game plays exactly the same. There are no added features, because it doesn’t need them, anyway. The graphics are blown up for the bigger screen, and it looks magnificent. It’s worth noting, however, that the iPhone version is much easier to play; The smaller screen makes it easier to keep track of the entire playfield without having to dart your eyes around, and the smaller device is easier to tilt back and forth as rapidly as the game demands. That said, the iPad version looks so great on the big screen that it’s hard to care how much worse you’re playing. Unfortunately, you can’t transfer your game saves between devices.
Clever independent games like The Incident make me glad the iOS platform, and its dwarfishly low barrier to entry for developers, exists. Until as recently as a few years ago, quirky, bizarre games like this would never have seen the light of day. Big Bucket has shown us that simple mechanics, a distinct style, and a great idea can come together to create something worth well more than the sum of those small parts. For just $1.99, The Incident is an easy buy.
The Incident is available on the App Store for $1.99.
The Incident was independently purchased by the post author in the iPhone App Store. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.
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