

The pastel presentation looks ripped from a storybook and cements the notion that Spotto! doesn’t take itself seriously one bit. Characters are on the goofy side and the audio sounds lifted from a toy warfare cartoon, with your bird suffering from Pokémon syndrome by yelling his own name all the time. Spotto! also boasts one of the most porn-riffic character names around with Chikkie Wowwow, the president's daughter who was kidnapped by the ghosts. Are you a bad enough bom_bird_ier to rescue her?

Spotto! has a lot of things going for it, with the most important being its addictive nature. It plays a lot like a simpler Reflect Missile/Trajectile; line up your bomb toss trajectory and try to either swoosh a ghost’s mouth directly or bank a bomb off the environment into one. Each stage gives you five bombs to start off with, but you only lose one if you miss a ghost.

Unlike Reflect Missile’s occasionally hokey aiming system, which often led to cancelled shots if you removed the stylus too early, you crank a little wheel on the bottom screen and tap to toss. It’s more consistent, but unlike in Reflect Missile you don’t always have a clear indication of where your bomb will land. It’s not really a knock per se, since aiming is where the challenge stems from, but until you get the hang of how the system works you’ll be tossing a lot of whiffers and lose a few too many bombs than you otherwise should. Once you do you'll be the Michael Jordan of ghost killing.

With 50 stages there's a decent amount of content to sink your teeth into, and perfectionists and score junkies alike will get a kick out of the Challenge mode where you're given 10 bombs and play until you run out. The problem is the stages aren't really that difficult; perfect for younger gamers but won't pose much of a threat to seasoned players. Medals are absent, as is completion time records and a level editor. Some games just beg for level editors and Spotto! is one of them.


For a mere 200 points you certainly get a lot of bang for your duck, and if you became hopelessly addicted to Reflect Missile/Trajectile then you’ll likely find yourself hooked until the end. The problem is the end comes fairly soon and doesn't offer much incentive to return, which is a terrible fate for a puzzle game like this. Spotto! is fun while it lasts, we just wish this bird had stronger wings.