Hungry Giraffe

pro

Hungry Giraffe is a charming spin on the vertical scrollers that requires you to grab something to keep up your momentum. In this case it's all about eating your way from the lush green jungles and up and beyond into space. Various foods give various boosts and I don't think it's a coincidence that fast food is what gets you up faster. On your way through each of the 10 stages you need to avoid obstacles like anvils, poisons and drugs that will either send you plummeting to your doom, invert controls and screen or splash all the colors of the rainbow on your screen. The game controls fine with both motion controls and the sticks, but to precisely navigate the later levels I preferred the sticks. The graphics are both charming and crisp.

con

For a game that costs money there sure is a lot of emphasis on micro transactions and social interaction to gain calories - the game's currency. Every time you eat something in the game you earn calories which can be used for upgrades and character unlocks, but the amount of calories you earn in a playthrough is so minimal that you will either have to spend the next months playing or simply buy them through the store. You can like on Facebook, follow on Twitter or subscribe on YouTube to earn additional calories, but the amount you get is insignificant. One of these actions will net you an additional 1000 calories and the cheapest new character is 100 000. The most expensive one is 400 000. Upgrades range from 10 000 to 800 000. A playthrough of all the 10 levels (you will loop through these once you pass level 10) will net you between 10 000 and 20 000 calories depending on what you eat.

con

A slight boost in difficulty is the only means of variation in the later levels, and after finishing all 10 of them it's hard to find an incentive to continue. Not only will you be replaying the same levels over and over again, but the amount of calories you gain does not justify the time you need to put into it to afford something of significance. Of course I can just take advantage of all the micro transactions but I already paid for a pretty bare-bone game. I probably wouldn't have been so hesitant if the game was free to begin with like most of these games are.

con

A minor but annoying flaw is that the music is somewhat separated from what you play. What this means is that after the soundtrack is done and you keep playing, you'll be playing in utter silence. It doesn't restart like it should unless you restart the game.