Articles,Miscellaneous,Reviews |

October 20, 2011

I love just stumbling across games. DSiWare holds plenty of Nintendo published titles that Nintendo lets slip by unadvertised. It’s unfortunate, but c’est la vie. So instead, I present to you Spotto!, a DSiWare game developed by Intelligent Systems. While it doesn’t compare to the pricing and quality of similar app store titles, Spotto! does a decent job of bringing the pick-up play experience to the Nintendo DS.

You are a bird, and you are so angry! So angry, in fact, that you might just go ahead and lob some explosive power at some unsuspecting creatures, causing them to explode. No, this isn’t Angry Birds. This is Spotto!, a DSiWare title created by Intelligent Systems, the nice fellows who brought us the Fire Emblem and Advanced Wars series. While Spotto! may sound like Nintendo’s answer to Angry Birds, Spotto was actually the angry bird before the Angry Birds, as the title saw release a full month before the original launch of Angry Birds.

Story

Spotto wasn’t always an angry bird. At one point, he was just a bird. That all changed when the President’s daughter is kidnapped by ghosts. Spotto becomes an angry bird and steps into action. Armed with only his tail feathers, a helmet and five bombs for each room, Spotto takes on the ghost army, who float around helplessly in the air. Using his bombs, he explodes them into probably one of the most unintentionally gruesome deaths ever where the ghosts’ sprites explode into several pieces that proceed to shower onto Spotto.

Gameplay

While the concept of Spotto! sounds a lot like Angry Birds, it only has a couple of similarities. Spotto! only focuses on the angle at which you throw the bomb. Ghosts are only vulnerable from above, as they look to the sky with their mouths open. At first, you must simply lob the bomb into their exposed oral cavities, but later the title cranks up the difficulty requiring the player to ricochet their shots. It also adds new elements like a variety of obstacles, moving ghosts, and, *gasp* ghosts that close their mouths on occasion.

With only five bombs, players have to play their cards right. If they blow up a ghost, they regenerate one bomb. If you miss, you lose a bomb. Once your five bombs are gone, it’s game over. Of course, you can just retry the stage once you fail. Occasionally, destroying ghosts or flying toilets will net the player a super bomb. This bomb turns all the severed pieces of whatever ghost you hit with it into more super bombs. It becomes a chain reaction causing mass chaos on screen.

Spotto! is exactly what you’d expect from a title of this caliber. It’s short and addictive, and quick to pick up and play, although at times discourages closing the software as your super bomb counter will reset. It has all the qualities you need to enjoy just for a few minutes at the bus stop.

Lasting Appeal

Spotto! costs a whopping $1.99 and takes about two hours to complete all fifty stages. Despite it’s affordable price point, it feels a bit short on content. The title is meant to be played in short bursts, so it may give you a few lunch breaks worth of entertainment, but don’t exactly expect it to be a steal. Once you’ve conquered all fifty levels, there’s a Challenge mode which is essentially a survival mode. You’re given ten bombs and asked to go as far as you possibly can. There’s also a Pro mode, which gives players less insight to where the bomb will land. Both of these modes just recycle the previously conquered fifty stages.

Conclusion

Spotto! does what it set out to do – Create a pick up and play experience that the player can hop in and out of at any point. The number of stages leaves something to be desired, but it’s hard to complain considering the price. If you’re looking for something to do during your lunch break, or in Europe’s case, between Xenoblade Chronicles sessions, Spotto! satisfies. Although for 3DS Owners, your precious battery life might be better spent elsewhere. Oh, wait. 3DS has no games.