Borrowing the simple joy of the 8-bit era at its finest, The Incident is a wonderful take on casual iOS gaming. A nostalgic, chipper soundtrack, wonderfully bright graphics, gameplay that's perfect for several-minute stretches, and an extremely disturbing premise.
The Incident's protagonist is glumly waiting for a cab when, in true cartoon irony, a taxi falls from the sky and nearly crushes our pixelated pal. Hah! Cute, right? But wait. A slow trickle of beach balls, fences, couches, cars, and countless other doodads turn into a torrential downpour of urban detritus. Tilt your device from side to side to scurry out from under incoming objects (indicated by a blinking line at the top of the screen), and tap to jump up the pile. It's lively enough in a cartoonish way—Yikes! Where did all this stuff come from!—until you reach the end of the game's second level, giving you a skyline panorama of your town.
And then you see it. The smashed dome. The crunched crane. Plumes of smoke. My God. They're dead. They're all dead. Avenge the destruction of your townspeople and keep on ascending, collecting power-ups, coins, and trophies along the way. At $1.99, The Incident is a fantastic game (and commentary on consumerism? You decide!) with a terrific sense of humor, perfect to play in tense, frantic bursts—and really a visual pleasure despite its intentional simplicity. [iTunes]