Now we’ll talk about a game that considers itself to be a simple and rather stingy game arcade genre "eat them all." Probably the most understandable example of a similar game is the Japanese PS3 exclusive by That Game Company, called flOw. There we controlled a certain unknown creature the size of a molecule that freely floated and ate other molecules, becoming larger and larger. When it became larger, it began to eat larger creatures and grew even more. And so on to infinity. In fact, this is a very exaggerated simulator of small life forms. That game was short to disgrace, however, managed to give quite a few pleasant emotions. The time spent in it was comparable to a long solo train ride or yoga class at the top of the mountain. flOw has become the focus of the best ideas of independent games and forever deposited in the memory of players. But quite about the contribution of That Game Company to the industry - here is still a different subject of discussion.
A similar game is Tasty Planet, authored by unknown Dingo Games. True, here everything will be more modest both in terms of game design and in terms of graphics. I admit, I have not heard about the developers either before or after - there is a suspicion that this is generally their only series of games, and the guys left the market immediately after the release. One way or another, Tasty Planet was released in 2006 for iOS and PC.
Plot
The story in the game is served in portions, after passing through each zone into which the levels are divided. We learn about the events through a series of comic-styled windows with talking characters. The plot tells of a stereotypical mustachioed scientist in a white coat who invented a unique cleaning product - a gray shapeless lump reminiscent of dust. According to the assurances of the professor, this smallest creature has reason and must eat mud. Launch such an invention on sale - housewives with their hands torn off. But this is bad luck: it turns out that the animal is omnivorous, and its hunger is truly insatiable. We see how, right under the microscope, she devours everything that she sees and becomes noticeably larger in size. Then the assistant professor brings a finger to the creature, and then bites it, and then penetrates into his body. Frightened, the assistant runs to wash his hands and washes the baby into the sewers. Which, in the end, leads him to the park with a mass of delicious microbes.
As you know, the rest is small. A small eats without a break for lunch and sleep, and is constantly increasing in size! Finally, as a grown up follows, a lump runs out onto the field, where a couple of scientists have a picnic. They notice him, but instead of crushing him, while he has not yet grown to the size of a man, for some reason they throw him into the sea - they say he will drown. However, the creature turns out to be tenacious and continues to fill its belly with everything its mouth can reach - first small fish, then more, then dolphins and even sharks. Of course, the hero grows to inconceivable sizes, such that it already begins to pose a serious danger to humanity. The government gathers an army, they drive the infantry. The creature decides that he was kindly given a dinner in camouflage breading and, with a clear conscience, eats up the troops, adding a few more meters in height and width. Then the government calls for reinforcements in the form of tanks and helicopters. Of course, they also turn out to be easy prey for an unscrupulous lump. Nothing can stop him. In fact, a similar situation has been described more than once in books and disaster films. However, never before have we looked at this story through the prism of the thoughts of an antagonist. We are forced to fight with humanity and our native planet as a whole and, in the end, make it dead. This is a very curious approach.
History, although it is interconnected, but, unfortunately, does not have enough attractiveness to closely monitor it. Creation abstracted from the scenario element also does not work out - the pictures are painted anyhow, just to give a ride. True, it is worth considering that the project is mainly aimed at children who are about to go to school, and they are not particularly demanding.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Tasty Planet is slightly different from the representatives of the genre - we are also required to eat everything that comes to hand in order to evolve further. Initially, our character is the size of a real molecule, just a few micrometers. At the first level, we are forced to eat the simplest forms of life. It is noteworthy that our lump cannot eat a creature that is larger than it. And just by eating the little poor fellow, we increase in size to eat those who are bigger. And so on until the level is over. Moreover, it is not necessary to eat everything that moves - static inorganic objects also go perfectly to food.
The game is divided into a number of locations, plot-related. Each location has several levels. Most often, the mission at the levels comes down to simply filling in the gluttony scale. The tasks of the same type are a little disappointing and towards the end of the zone you already feel that you are beginning to overpower yourself to reach the last level in the zone and finally move to the next. Apparently, this is how the developers tried to artificially stretch the game. Various enemies and objects save us from complete boredom - in the first zone, our opponents are the simplest forms of life, then small insects, then mice, cats, dogs, and, in the end, people. True, the diet of the protagonist does not end with people - soon he begins to devour military equipment, then houses, trees, huge boulders ... The lump does not disdain to even drink a little (or a lot) of red-hot lava, just thrown from the mouth of the volcano! And then, take a bite and the volcano itself, as if a chocolate fondant. In the last zone, our hero even grows to the size of a planet, and begins to devour the Earth, then the remaining planets of the solar system, then galaxies, stars, and, in the end, the entire universe. The mechanics of the game do not change from beginning to end.
The game has a map of completed levels in the manner of the first Crash Bandicoot - after passing this or that segment of the adventure you can always return there again. But why? Set a new record in time? Nobody will see him anyway - the game does not make friends with the Internet.
Visually Tasty Planet appears before us with a view from above. There is a suspicion that this was done not so much for the convenience of the review, but to hide the inept animation and design. I must say, graphically the game does not look very promising. Flat figures of rats with a gradient fill and similar movements of people send us back to the last century. There we are driven and disorderly paved grass textures. However, this does not affect the gameplay, and therefore does not constitute a big problem.
Music and sound
The musical accompaniment in Tasty Planet is calm and extremely simple. Throughout the game, we will hear only a few changing compositions with pleasant female tunes. The melodies themselves do not cause complaints, but their repeatability may well make you chop off the speakers and play in complete silence. Or make a playlist yourself and not rely on the taste of developers. It is also strange that the composers decided not to adjust their music to the general mood of the picture. Sometimes we see how in the frame a large dust lump manically devours a handful of people, dodging a tank shell flying into it, and against the background of all this, music from a resort hotel with sweet female vocals sounds! I do not ask for dramatic orchestral parts, squeezing a mean tear, but at least the music should develop! Out of play, the tracks, regrettably, are also not viable. As for the sound, it is also simple and stingy with variety. Only one sound is programmed to eat a particular type of living creature, which is turned on every time as soon as your hero rams the enemy into his stomach. And imagine that you need to eat fifty mice in a level. Are you ready to listen to the same unnerving loss fifty times in a row? Here I am too.
Afterword
Tasty Planet is a game, after which I definitely want to go check the refrigerator for the presence of something edible. She has a lot of flaws, expressed in the face of parasitization on the same mechanics, of the same type of sounds and music, the tightness of most sections, inexpressive animation and poor character design. But along with this, if you play it in small portions, it is able to give you many pleasant moments. Where else can we eat a human military detachment with a giant gray slug? And where can we lick the sun? If these words are not enough for you to make sure you need to familiarize yourself, I have one more trump card - the possibility of a cooperative game! At any time, a second player can connect to you, and you can devour everything around (except for each other) twice as fast! However, despite the fact that it’s fun to play Tasty Planet, I don’t feel like going through it a second time. You will not receive any bonuses for high-speed passage, and the game together offers exactly the same levels. Tasty Planet is a great alternative to solitaire at work!