FingerGaming

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• Price: $1.99 (Get It)
• Version: 1.0.0
• Official Site: No Monkeys

I’ve never felt so stupid while having so much fun. Alphabetic takes a basic, kindergarten-level concept — the order of letters within the Roman alphabet — and turns it into a puzzle game that will have you scrambling for shattered pieces of your own dignity. And yet, you’ll still come back for more, eager for further humiliation.

It starts out easy enough. There are two letters on the screen, one of which is the letter “A.” Touch it, and you’ll add a few seconds to an ever-decreasing timer. Next, you’ll need to find the letter “B” within a small group of letters. Then “C,” and “D,” and so on, until you reach the end of the alphabet. By the time you get halfway through, though, the screen will have taken the form of a whirling vortex of letters, only one of which is the letter you’re currently seeking. You’ll find yourself frantically scanning the screen over and over as the timer ticks down, wondering if maybe you’ve somehow forgotten what an “R” looks like.

The changing letter arrangements make for genuinely compelling gameplay. After each successful find, the letters will scramble into a different shape, and they’ll scroll, bounce, rotate, and shift as you scan them. There are only a few different arrangement types, but they’ll play in random sequence, making for a somewhat different experience with every play.

Luckily, there’s more to Alphabetic’s gameplay than the main mode’s straight A-to-Z progression. After completing the game once, you’ll unlock nine additional challenges, some of which change up the core gameplay significantly. One mode has you hunting for numbers in sequence, for instance, while another (particularly devious) one makes you hunt through the alphabet backwards. If the main mode made you feel dumb, you’re sure to feel embarrassed when you’re mentally running through the alphabet song in your head while desperately trying to remember what letter comes before “Q.”

A variety of skill-based achievements are also included, extending Alphabetic’s gameplay by a significant degree. There’s a surprisingly large amount of gameplay you’ll find here for $1.99, and if you can get past the occasional frustration of being unable to find a particular letter on the crowded screens of later levels, you’ll have a lot of fun with Alphabetic.

Tags: alphabetic, no monkeys, Puzzle, reviews