This one is going to be a little different. I want to review this game, despite the fact it came out years ago, because the people who cooked it are, in a way, very dear to me. Lindsay and Alex Small-Butter are a powerful animation duo, who blessed us all with creations like legendary Baman and Piderman or the heart-melting goodness of Daffodil's tiny adventures. You might know them from YouTube. I hope you do! Because their work has a unique, enchanting quality to it. It's wobbly, it's cute, it brims with vibrancy. As an avid cartoon aficionado, I am always delighted to see their work in shows I love. Be it crazy episodes of Adventure Time (Beyond the Grotto and Ketchup), Amphibia (True Colors), or The Owl House (Watching and Dreaming). You can instantly recognize their style too, it is so... Theirs.
So when in 2019 I learned that the powerhouse duo known as SMALLBÜ embarked on a game development journey, well... There wasn't much needed to sell it to me. I was excited! Together with Pillowfight development team they cooked and cooked well, giving us a tasty dish in their style. LATER ALLIGATOR is a very simple game. It doesn't try to break any new grounds, invent new mechanics, or tantalize you with never-before-seen gameplay features. It is, to be honest, quite rudimentary. It's 30 simple mini-games wrapped in a bit of a cute, zany story. If that sounds boring to you, well... I would say that sometimes the Wrapping matters more than the content inside.
Because the power of this game lies in its presentation! As expected from the powerful animation duo, the game looks and feels different than anything you will see on the market. Pat - the alligator - has an extensive family of gators with varied professions and personalities. The problem is, there's a dark and confusing conspiracy at play! And so you, a hired professional investi-gator (yes!) will help the poor Pat in finding out the truth of the situation! To do so, you'll travel through the grayscale town populated with goofy characters to interact with his extended family and play their games to get the answers you need.
All of the minigames are very rudimentary. Hide and Seek. Find the card. Click on some flies. Play a bit of an anime romance novel dating sim. Oh yeah, that's in there too. Okay, maybe NOT all of them are basic. But sure as heck every single one has a bit of a twist to them! While they might be simplistic, the characters and their bouncy animations sell those games oh so well. It's just fun, plain and simple, always making you smile one way or the other. Be it the charming ineptitude of the gators in their own games or lively details in the background giving hilarity to the game context.
The key aspect of this game's entertainment lies with its characters. Each gator is brimming with personality. The writing is fun, filled with puns, and never fails to make me crack a smile, sometimes even a hearty chuckle. It's all very lighthearted and goofy, despite the obvious Mafia family atmosphere. It's a curious juxtaposition of this film-noir aesthetics contrasting against the bouncy, cartoony characters. And the music of Matt "2 Mello" Hopkins is excellent, matching the visual style so well that it is hard to not get a little wiggly together with the silly gators.
The story isn't long - one good evening should see you through. This is excellent because the game doesn't try to outpace itself, finding a good balance of fun and story to keep you engaged from start to finish. For completionists, there are some secrets to find out, but nothing should try and test your patience. If you're in for a fun, zany little game that you can consume with gusto over a single sitting, this would be my recommendation. It will brighten your day, guaranteed. And I sure hope that SMALLBÜ will grant us a gift of another game sometime in the future because I genuinely can't get enough of their unique style and good vibes.
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