Quick review this time: not much to talk about here. Normally that might give off a poor impression, but I think simplicity is the name of this game. Well okay, technically the name of the game is Serious Scramblers, but I digress. Serious Scramblers is a quick reaction, board-the-platforms, autoscroller. It could not be simpler: there’s only two buttons, and one isn’t even for jumping. You simply slide off the (left or right) edge of the platforms to your impending doom… well at least there’s some baddies and other platforms to keep you alive. The game gradually adds more challenge, via hazardous platforms, all the way to a recurring boss monster. I was still, personally, left wanting, especially after playing an arguably stronger game, Downwell. Nonetheless, the controls, what little there are, are tight, and the game has a perfect amount of weight to the characters.
There is a procedural generation aspect to the game in terms of how the levels are laid out. Sometimes I found it cumbersome when especially brutal placements manifested. It does teach players to wait for the ground to appear beneath them, but it’s one of those aspects that make the game teeter towards being a rage game. The game offers very little variety. You better hope the core gameplay loop hooks you because besides a short, yet challenging “campaign”, the only other thing to look forward to is Endless mode. There are unlockable characters that can add advantages and disadvantages (I had fun with the ninja cat), but not enough to really shake things up. Endless mode does offer online leaderboard support, so if you want to test your skills; there you go. It can be entertaining watching your score climb towards the top, but that wasn’t personally compelling. That’s really all there is to it. Did arcade games like Flappy Bird, Temple Run, or Doodle Jump captivate you? If so, this might spark that sort of quick pick-up-and-play fun you might be craving. For me, this was a fine distraction for a few days, but nothing more.
In the end, Serious Scramblers held my attention for the time I played and, admittedly, the no-jump aspect intrigued me at first. There wasn’t enough interesting mechanics on top of that to really wow me, but the game is perfectly serviceable. It is extremely cheap, so the couple hours of gameplay, assuming you’re not hardcore into maximizing your score in Endless mode, might be worth it for you.
Serious Scramblers was developed by Chinykian Games.
Available for $1.99 (PC), (iOS)
A Steam copy was provided by the developer.
Hellfirebam has awarded Serious Scramblers The Indie Gamer Team Seal of Approval.
Indie Gamer Team 