Isn't it about time that prehistoric cave art inspired a game?
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By Ned Jordan
Feast or Famine? The answer to that question is a matter of your hunting
skills in this side-scrolling arcade runner. As you run across the prehistoric
landscape, you must use your spear or other weapon to kill both fowl and fauna
in an attempt to stay on the feast side of the equation. Tapping the left side
of the screen will send a projectile at your potential dinner, with the location
of your tap determining the angle of your shot. Hit your target and it turns
into a tasty morsel of meat which you will chow down on the run. Go too far
between meals, though, and you'll starve.
The specter of starvation isn't the
only obstacle in your path, though. The landscape is littered with obstacles and
pits that you must try to avoid by tapping the right side of the screen to jump.
In a welcome touch, failing to clear an obstacle isn't necessarily immediately
fatal, although you'll lose precious time as you scramble to get running after
your prey again.
Fail to eat for too long of a stretch of time and you'll
expire, but if you manage to eat enough to survive the run to the end of the
level you'll be scored from one to three stars based on your hunting prowess and
the time it took you to reach the end of the level.
Also scattered about the
levels are bones to be collected that act as the game's currency. These bones
can be exchanged for power-ups which have been designed with a nod towards the
humorous and absurd, as amply evidenced by the ray gun available for purchase.
The costs of the upgrades are on the high side of average for games with in-app
purchases, meaning that they are affordable if you play a fair number of games
but are definitely designed to tempt you to pay cash as a tax on your
impatience.
Feast or Famine is an enjoyable game based on gameplay alone, but
what really makes it stand out is its presentation and art style. The
prehistoric vibe is brought home by its petroglyph inspired graphics that make
your character and the animals you hunt look like a cave painting come to life.
Everything else, from the game's menus to its loading screens, has a unique and
refreshing look which really helps the game to stand out from the huge crowd of
iOS games.
There's only one issue with the game that prevents me from
recommending it to everyone, and that's the way the weapon throws are
controlled. Controlling the angle of your shots is a bit too difficult and a bit
too spotty when tapping the left edge of the screen. Perhaps added as a way to
compensate for this issue, you can also hold your finger down on the screen to
freeze the action and more precisely adjust your shot angle. However, doing so
really breaks the rhythm of the game and doesn't seem to slow the starvation
meter correspondingly. This issue isn't a deal-breaker, but it can be annoying.
Luckily there's enough style and personality to the game that arcade gamers and
runner fans will be able to look past this issue.
