Alley Gator, a tunnel-sliding game from Glu Mobile, has been released in the app store. Though the gameplay is simplistic at best and the overall presentation looks like the target audience is children, Alley Gator offers enough of a challenge that all gamers should find this to be an enjoyable ride.
Alley Gator Pros:
- Cartoonish graphics fit well
- Fun and upbeat soundtrack
- Sound effects are plentiful
- Randomly generated obstacles and power-ups
Alley Gator Cons:
- Lacking tilt-calibration option
- Strangely balanced level difficulty
- No global leaderboards or achievements
Alley Gator offers little in the way of modes, difficulties, or options. In fact, there really aren’t any at all. There are, however, 6 different environments across 25 levels, each with a target time of 1 minute or less to get through the tunnel. Along the way, you’ll find various items strewn about, some of which are very helpful while others can mean the difference between passing a level or not. Each level has peppers for Alley to collect, though they don’t appear to have much bearing on the outcome of the game. In fact, any collected peppers will not appear in replays of the level and do not factor into unlocking subsequent levels. Snagging stopwatches will become crucial to getting through the level under the target time. Bottles of green goo will cause little Alley to grow to enormous proportions for a short period of time, as well as making Alley invincible to obstacles. The obstacles are varied and plentiful, including old tires, barrels, fans, gates, pipes, and many more. Hitting any obstacle will cause Alley to slow significantly for a moment. Escaping the tunnel and reaching the water before the timer expires will unlock the next level, allowing you to progress through the game. The number of peppers collected and the total time it takes to complete the level are tracked and available from the level select screen.
Graphically, the environments and Alley are a bit cartoonish, but pleasant. They seem to work very well in this game, whose simple style and gameplay mechanics do not require high-end graphics. The soundtrack is fun and upbeat, and the sound effects are plentiful, indicating when you pick up items, slam into obstacles, freeze time, and have only seconds left to finish the level. Controls are mainly accelerometer-based, tilting left and right to controls how Alley maneuvers through the tunnel. Touching the screen slows Alley, giving you the opportunity to grab an item you otherwise might have sped by. We did experience some issues playing while lying down and found that the controls worked best when we were sitting and holding the device parallel to the floor. A future calibration option would be much appreciated to alleviate these issues. When it was working, the speed of the game created enough of a challenge that it often took multiple attempts to complete the level. As the obstacles and power-ups are not randomly generated, repeated plays will allow you to get a good feel for where everything is. Level balancing, however, seems a bit off, as our best time on Level 2 is under 2 seconds due to the plethora of stopwatches available. Levels 1 and 3 are each in the 30 second range after repeated attempts.
Replay value is good, as repeated plays can shave significant time from your level scores. Collecting all of the peppers may take multiple attempts, as well. There are no global leaderboards or achievements to speak of, but for a fairly basic $0.99 game, they don’t feel all that necessary. Alley Gator is a 4-Dimple fun ride.
