It’s a recurring habit to try to make things more ellaborated and complex in the pursuit for quality. We tend to add features to enhance gameplay trying to create a memorable experience, but sometimes, the opposite way works far better to achieve that. It’s well known that when your constraints are tight, you seek for bolder and more creative solutions, struggling to get more from less.
In the case of this game: “Spike: a love story“, you’ll just need to push the Spacebar. Not even in a frenzy mode, and even though, the result obtained is quite impressive: the game turns out to be challenging, entertaining, memorable and above all extremely funny. Don’t wait, stop reading. Play it now!!! (shall you?)

How can you squeeze all that from just a key pressing? The answer comes by blending wisely some winning features. First of all there’s the undelaying humour, there’s a different sketch each 10 seconds or less. Each comic sketch plays with the unexpected, a classic comic formula. You may be waiting for something, and then… you just got busted!!!
From the many different behaviours shown in the game, emanates illusion of life, the sensation you are playing with a living toy. You don’t know what to expect from it and that’s certainly engaging.
Finally, black sense of humour, the morbid fascination of being the bad guy in the movie. Feeling that you are being wicked also keeps you sticked to the Spacebar.

So rather than playability, here we have a great game because of it’s “script”, specially its sense of humour. They say in war and love everything’s allowed, but also in game development! It’s stimulating finding games that create their own formula. It may not be a game for playing for several days, but we’ve learnt a great lesson of humility, and inventiveness from it. Thanks Matzerath for this little great gem!