Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor review

Spiders have long been the subject of comic books, songs and books and now they’ve invaded the App Store. Spider The Secret of Bryce Manor by Tiger Style Games is a unique action based puzzle game starring you as a hungry spider that crawls and jumps around the rooms of an abandoned mansion, building up webs and eating various insects to survive. The game uses a surreal combination of 3D cartoon like objects and live action characters that will amaze your senses and entice your curiosity as you live the life a live action spider.

If you suffer from arachnophobia you just might want to stay away from Spider on the iPhone, as the gameplay and Spider movements are freakishly lifelike. The game stars a very active and hungry jumping spider that goes from room to room in an old abandoned villa infested with various bugs, securing his meals.

Controlling the spider is done by either performing a continuous drag on the iPhone screen to crawl on objects and webs, or by doing quick swipes to produce quick jumps between two points. Movements are incredulity smooth and natural as you walk and jump around the room. Trapping your prey is done by tapping on the spider and jumping which will build a line of silk from one point to the other. To complete a web, just draw any geometric shape, and watch as the web is magically filled from the inside. Building webs will eventually require some planning to make sure the location is strategic enough to catch your prey, while maintaing silk reserves. As you consume more insects, you build up silk, and use them to make more webs. Run out of silk and your spider dies.

As previously mentioned the graphics have a smooth finish and the objects are detailed with strong hints of lights, shadows and a nice contrast of sharp and blurry layers to enhance the 3D feel of the game. Insects, including the Spider move around the screen smoothly and the jumps are addictively fun, bringing back memories of Spidey cartoons. There are numerous areas to explore, including hidden rooms and secret places to find in packed in 28 levels of gameplay. Each level is completed after you eat enough insects to open a “portal” to the next room. The game starts out with simple insects and gets more exciting as you start to tack hornets, herd mosquitoes, stun dragonflies, moths, and more.

The only minor drawback that comes up a slight bit short in Spider is the soundtrack, which although quite original and supernatural, becomes a little repetitive at times. Overall, Spider by Tiger Style Games is a breath of fresh air in a world of suffocatingly similar iPhone apps. You won’t find anything else like it in the App Store.

Here is a video demo of the Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor app on the iPhone

AppSafari review of Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor was written by Joe Seifi on February 2nd, 2010 and categorized under App Store, Featured, Fun, Games. Page viewed 4738 times, 2 so far today. Need help on using these apps? Please read the Help Page.