Have you ever thought there could be too much of a good thing? Too many superhero movies? Too many types of ice cream cake? Too many sentences that begin with “too many?” Well, there definitely can be too much of a good thing. Trust me, I was out until four in the morning last night. Well, I think there is one good thing we may have gotten a bit too much of: endless runners. Let me explain. And also review Pinchworm for iOS devices.

The Basics

Like I said, endless runners have become widely available. Perhaps too widely available. You see, there was a time when the most overly available games were Candy Crush ripoffs but with similar names. You know, Candle Crush or Candy Crash, things like that. They all followed that basic formula without changing much, and became way too prevalent. As in it would be difficult to find the game you wanted to find because there were too many of them. Well, since the popularity of Temple Run, we have gotten more and more endless runners. And most of them fail to change up the formula all that much. Where am I going with all this? You’ll have to wait and see.

The Gameplay

Like my overly long and rambling rants have probably made you guess, Pinchworm is an endless runner. Or more of an endless whatever worms do. (Slither?)
Your entire objective is to look ahead, avoiding all the obstacles in your path. And by that I mean you avoid rocks and flowers. And that’s it. I guess that’s realistic for a worm.

Is It Fun?

If I can say one positive thing about this game, it’s got a pretty interesting control scheme. You put both of your thumbs on the screen, pushing them apart to dig and pinching them together (get it? Pinchworm? Eh?) in order to jump. This made for a pretty interesting gameplay style, as you had to react quickly to survive. The only issue is there is pretty much no variation to the obstacles. Rocks mean jump, flowers mean dig. And that’s it. No bottomless lava pits or electric buzzsaws? For shame.

The Bottom Line

Pinchworm had a pretty original idea that gets washed away with the monotony of the rest of the game. It’s not just the fact that it’s an endless runner, as there could be some original additions to the formula. But simply having an interesting control scheme doesn't make up for a largely forgettable game. And, considering it’s a game where you play as an inchworm trying to save the love of your life, that’s saying something.