As their follow-up to the previously reviewed [(x)(x)(x)(x)( )] puzzler, Skeleton Key, Insurgent Games'teh internets, couldn't be more different. While Skeleton Key relied strictly on brainpower, teh internets relies strictly on your reflexes, attempting to tickle your funny bone along the way. What teh internets sets out to be is a tongue-in-cheek side scrolling shooter with more in common with classic era games in its gameplay than today's "bullet hell" variety, the latter of which is a decidely acquired and commercially niche taste. Not only is going the classic route a good choice since it's likely more appealing to a broader audience (and a personal preference of mine), but also because it's a better fit for the platform in general (in this case I used an iPhone 3G for the review).
Having a knowledge of classic Internet memes goes a long way to enjoying the game's humor, which pays proper homage to the momentary pop culture icons (check here for both South Park's take on classic memes and the original memes themselves). From the Dramatic Gopher who is your host during the tutorial, to your ASCII-inspired ROFL- and LOL-rotored helicopter, there are no shortage of winks and nods to not only the World Wide Web, but computing in general. Nevertheless, all the humor in the world couldn't salvage a game deficient in gameplay, but luckily, teh internets delivers. While the gameplay is hardly ambitous - this is a pure shooter through and through - the execution works. Of course, though the descriptor is a convenient one, calling it a "shooter" is not entirely correct, because you don't actually get to shoot anything, you just attempt to collect lolcats and try to avoid nearly everything else, like popup windows and a variety of trolls.