They have come in the dark of the night – hungry and howling – to harvest the bodies of you and everyone in your village, this particular sinister menace is known only as the Spooklings. Once a single invader crashes through your city’s gates it will all be over, which is why for the sake of yourself – and all the other villagers – you have been tasked with not letting any of them slip by. However – as the never ending dark army marches forward – you realize, all too quickly, that it is only a matter of time before everyone holed up in this town must yield to the Attack of the Spooklings (out now, $0.99).
The controls of this recent title by Picaro Games could not be simpler, for all someone has to do is swipe their finger across the screen to utterly devastate the never ending Spookling armies. The player is awarded bonus points if they can destroy any of the oncoming battalions in a single motion, as well as additional points based on how close the slain Spooklings were at the moment of their demise. While killing the Spooklings in this manner is more than easy enough, players need to take care to not get too sloppy for they are never more than a single escaped opponent away from utter defeat.
Unfortunately the biggest concentration challenge one will most likely face during Attack of the Spooklings is that the game becomes detrimentally boring after the first few minutes. While there are a few different attack formations that the oncoming Spookling hordes can use, odds are you will have already experienced all of them within your first play session or two. As none of these change up the Spookling’s behavior – or what you must to do to stop them – the tedium sets in fast, especially when it doesn’t take much effort to keep all of the invaders from progressing very far. While there are technically higher rewards for letting Spooklings get close to the wall before destroying them, there’s little call to do so when you can just as easily – sans danger – hold them out on the front lines more or less forever.
That said – even though the game quickly wears out its welcome – one thing I will never tire of is the sound that plays out each time an enemy gets eviscerated, which is a satisfyingly meaty splorch. The title also features rather nicely made graphics for the Spooklings, which I guess is good since there’s only ever precisely two different enemies for you to face (one of which is merely a recolor of the other). Finally, the game’s background music – while merely being a single short loop that repeats indefinitely – remains rather mercifully catchy despite how much you’ll be overexposed to it.
iFanzine Verdict: While a game that immediately looks nice, and definitely controls competently, the current lack of variety in Attack of the Spooklings will cause many to quickly become bored. However, those interested can easily take a look at the free ad supported version before deciding whether or not they personally feel the title is truly worth the asking price. At the very least I can assure you that Attack of the Spooklings is 100% IAP free, not that this counts for much when the game is also free of pretty much everything else a player would normally ask for.