TUAW's Daily App: The Incident
The Incident makes for one of the best reasons to be a gamer and own an iPhone -- it's a purely indie affair, with excellent pixel graphics and game design by Neven Mrgan and Matt Comi and terrific chiptunes by Cabel Sasser. And it's a wacky little concoction that doesn't sound like it will work, but of course does, and well. You play a little guy who, standing in the street one day, is suddenly assaulted by falling objects from above. There's a little bit more to uncover, but that's really all you need -- you can tilt the iPhone back and forth to move your guy around in 2D, and tap on the screen to jump out of the way of falling objects above, marked by a warning flash on top of the screen.
It sounds strange, and it is, but it works. The controls are responsive, the graphics are colorful, and the game perfectly captures that "one more try" feeling as you ascend through the seven levels, climbing up on the fallen objects all the way to the top of the sky. There are lots of coins, med packs, and extra lives to collect as you go, but the tough part is just staying out of the way -- three hits on the noggin costs you a life (and gives you a trophy to remember what wacky object killed you). There are many, many objects in the game, too, and you'll undoubtedly be surprised by what falls on you next.
It's a great game, worth every cent of the US $1.99 they're selling it for in the App Store. Terrific little indie games like this are what make the iPhone platform really shine.
