Editor's Choice Game
Tasty Planet
Reviewed by Angie Kibiloski
Tasty Planet (Retail $19.95) is a deliciously inventive game available for download from Dingo Games at www.dingogames.com. Each level delivers new yummy surprises as you find out just how tasty our planet can be. With various levels of difficulty and several modes of game play, this amazingly cute and addictive game will suit all types of players.
You begin the game as a microscopic blob of grey goo, with wiggly oozy tentacles and adorable googly eyes, designed by the scientists to devour dirt and be a bathroom cleaning revolution. Unfortunately, you turn out to be more voracious than those clever scientists imagined. You float around the screen eating not only dirt, but anything smaller than you. In the laboratory, you start by eating other microbes, and as you eat, you grow, and as you grow, the more things you can eat. Soon, you are big enough to leave the lab, and get a taste of cheese, berries, cats, dogs, horses, and...PEOPLE!
Each level finds the grey goo getting larger and the environment changing accordingly. Pretty soon you are eating buildings, trains, and finally the Earth, stars, and whole galaxies. I admit, it is a little disturbing the first time you eat a person, and even more so when you swallow the Earth, but you soon get used to the screams and enjoy gobbling even the prettiest nebulas. The final level of the game even has you eating the very fabric of space! How's that for creative?
You can play the game in 3 modes, depending on what you want from your gaming experience. There is the Play Mode, where you need to eat fast and grow to a specific size before time runs out. This can be difficult during the levels where you have to dodge larger creatures that are trying to eat you. The Casual Mode is like the Play Mode except there is no time limit. You can take as long as you like to eat your fill and progress through the levels. The Endurance Mode is more difficult, with longer games and harder requirements for growth. Whichever mode you choose, it is very exciting to see your goo grow, and discover all the things you never knew you could eat.
There are some very fun features about your grey goo. When he eats things, he makes cute little "Mmmmmm" noises and occasionally says, "Yummy!" Very adorable. He turns the color of the things he eats until they digest. For instance, if he eats a blueberry, he will turn blue for a short time, and a red Lego block will make him turn red. If you eat a blueberry and red Lego block close together, he'll turn purple. Also, as he grows, he looks larger on the screen, but in addition the things that used to be larger than him appear smaller, so not only are you getting bigger, but your world is shrinking as well. Just small touches, but it all works to make the game that little bit more appealing.
I LOVE this game. I stayed up until 3 in the morning the first time I played, just because I wanted to see what I could eat in the next levels. Any game that makes me willingly lose sleep is a definite winner. So, go to www.dingogames.com, download this gem of a game, and start eating your way through this Tasty Planet.