Xbox 360
As a kid there was the an urban legend, pet alligators being flushed down the toilet and mutating to huge sizes in the New York sewerage system chowing down on all that dared to cross their path. Alley Gator has similar beginnings but he is more interested in running through the sewers eating chillies and trying to escape to a tropical island. Doesn’t he know he is freshwater he will surly perish, foolish gator!
Alley Gator is a very simple mini arcade game, you control Alley with a simple tilt of the iPhone, running through twisting pipes and avoiding numerous obstacles like TV's, sticky cobwebs and octopi; all eager to get in your way and mess up your bid for freedom. The tilt sensors on the iPhone do a pretty good job at keeping up with your commands, with sharp twists allowing Alley to turn faster.
Each of the 25 levels are relatively short timed runs with targets of 45 seconds to a minute but offer plenty of obstacles to keep you on your toes. You are assisted on your journey by a variety of power ups, essential when things get a bit hairy for Alley.
The graphical presentation is of a high quality, Alley is well animated for such a small character and seeing the little critter run around is fun; the environments which are all essentially long tubes look great but offer little variety, the first 20 levels are all the same urban style with graffiti all over the walls, with just the last handful offering a snow covered sewer and the final tropical vista. The action is all shown from just behind Alley, with the gator always in the centre of the screen, the tilting actions causing the sewers to rotate around him, making it a lot easier for you to keep your bearings. For a majority of the game it runs at a smooth pace but on occasion the iPhone cant seem to handle the pace, especially during corners and when trying to avoid spinning fans, making it vey hard to judge obstacles.
The first 24 levels can be completed in one short play through leaving the final level to be unlocked by collecting the 100 chillies that Alley inexplicably craves, thus an awful lot of replaying old levels. To stave away boredom there is a Croco-Corder that allows the player to re-record some of the sound effects for the game, but like the rest of Alley Gator, it wares thin rather quickly.
Whilst the controls are pretty responsive, the way in which you have to hold the iPhone is quite unnatural; the phone has to be held at 90 degrees, any other angle and you just don't get the response required to make the turns. Now on most handhelds you would play at a 45-50 degree slant, this harsh angle makes play quite uncomfortable as you have to raise it to eye level, making you look like an absolute pillock and asking to get mugged on the train.
Alley Gator is a short-lived and frustrating game that makes you want to throw your iPhone rather than Alley down the toilet, maybe that’s how Steve Job's iPhone mutated into the iPad.