So we have all become accustomed to dodging the casual shower or slight drizzle and even if we do get stuck in one, we use the handy umbrella as a last resort to shield us from the raindrops. But what happens when, instead of raining harmless fresh-water, it’s actually raining umbrellas, and other objects? That’s the situation you are in, in The Incident.

Gameplay 9/10

Either god’s having a car-boot sale or a madman’s gone berserk with a circus cannon, either way you have somehow found yourself in the unfortunate predicament of it raining random inanimate objects. So what do you do? Well, rather than run inside, crawl under the bed and hope for some secret government official to take care of it, you have decided to take matters into your own hands and try and find the source of this incident and put a stop to it.

As ambitious as this is, The Incident makes for a very fun game. The aim is to get higher and higher without dying. As objects fall from the sky you have to dodge them using the indicator at the top of the screen to tell you where the next one will fall, and the climb to the next checkpoint. Along the way you can collect crystals, power-ups, coins and health to help you in the shape of rising balloons, but beware of the cursed black balloon. This evil specimen will decrease your health.

You start off with 3 sections of health which decreases by one every time you get mushed by a falling object or hit a cursed balloon. When you lose all of your health you die and lose a life, you then have to restart from the last checkpoint. You can also die by getting buried alive under a ton of colorful, every-day objects to the point where you disappear off the screen, never to be seen again. Nice. If you lose all of your lives you have to start back from the beginning of the level with 5 lives.

Use power-ups to get you out of tricky situations.

The Incident gets increasingly harder as you go along and reach higher points. The first level being on the ground and long warning before objects fall, whereas the last level is based in space and objects fall almost immediately after the flashing warning bar which requires you to be quick on your feet and jump out of the way fast.

A small problem I found, especially in later levels was that I focus too much on the thin gray bar at the top which told me where and when the next object would fall from. I would much rather a more noticeable warning sign more central to the game where I can appreciate the graphics.

Graphics 10/10

The graphics great. I’m not normally one to go for retro, pixel-style looks, but The Incident has really pulled them off so well that even I love it. This is also coupled with the interesting variations of things that plummet down to the ground. A Frozen Caveman, a Prize Swordfish, a Vuvuzela and a Penny Farthing are just a some of the things I have been killed by recently (now you don’t say that a lot). Even after playing for a few hours, I still discover new objects that I haven’t seen before.

Controls 8/10

The controls consist of tilt to move sideways and tap to jump. The controls work well on the iPhone’s and iPod Touch’s touch screen with maybe a few hiccups sometimes in terms of accurate movement, but these minor problems are accentuated mostly because of the importance of being able to move quickly and accurately around the level.

Sound 10/10

The soundtrack fits extremely well with the retro feel of the game and keeps the game interesting. The sound effects are good enough, but the music is the most distinguishable.

Keep a record of the 10 most recent objects that killed you.

Menus 10/10

The menus fit with the retro style of the game. They are extremely simple and easy to navigate.

Longevity 7/10

The Incident is quite lengthy, with 7 levels, it takes a bit of time to complete, or get to a point where you just can’t do any more. The novelty does wear out a little bit and with the lack of an online leader-board and only 4 achievements, The Incident will get boring.

Cost 9/10

On the face of it, The Incident may look more like a $0.99/£0.59 title, but for the great graphics, polish and leveling system, it deserves its $1.99/£1.19 price point.

Conclusion 63/70 – 4.5/5

The Incident looks amazing, plays amazing and its unique concept makes it a must buy. Despite its quite short replay value, its pure character and humor will keep you chuckling all the way through.

The Incident on the App Store.