Peggle Nights

The Short


Pros
- More Peggle, but at night!
- Still the perfect drug
- Attempt to mix things up by making the animals superheroes is cute
- One new animal, and her powerup might actually be my favorite over the dragon's (gasp!)

Cons
- Originally released at $20! What?
- Essentially just an expansion pack that does nothing new aside add a ton more levels
- Might ruin your life. Like Peggle.

This review isn't going to be very long. Just saying. 

The "Long"

So Peggle is pretty good, guys. And despite having a ton of content, like a drug-addict eventually you are going to want more. And PopCap, the ever benevolent dealer, has delivered in the form of Peggle Nights. While they've released a bunch of free expansions on Steam (and by "bunch" I mean "one"), this one actually costs money, and for good reason: it's essentially the same amount of content in Peggle, only at night. Which means it's just more Peggle.

This probably looks familiar. 

So the game is exactly the same, so read the Peggle review if you need to know about that. there are only two real changes: the aesthetic (which is at "night," where the animals are dreaming of their ideal careers) and one new characters, Tesla, who shoots a line of lightning that is actually pretty awesome. Other than that, it's the same addicting collection of minigames, puzzles, and random pinball shooting with crazy effects all over again.

Just listen to this song during the review. It pretty much covers it. 

Currently, you can get both Peggle and Peggle Nights combined for $15 on Steam (vs $10 each) which is a pretty sweet deal. Trust me: after getting Peggle you are going to want Nights. It's just how this works. It escalates. It's a gateway game; pretty sure you'll be playing JRPGs and level grinding on MMOs and wondering where it all went wrong. Trust me. It's a great feeling.

And Electroboltin'. 

For the cheap asking price and massive number of new levels, Peggle Nights is more than worth it for those looking for more. Which is everybody. So if you liked Peggle, might as well grab this too. Plus the Electrobolt power is awesome.

Now make a real sequel, PopCap, and have some actually unique minigames this time. Like Plants vs Zombies. Oh yeah, make a sequel to that, too. 

Four out of five stars. 

You are the perfect drug. 

Peggle

The Short


Pros
- Fun, addicting game that is both like pinball and plinko while being neither
- Has probably the best visual/audio feedback for winning in a game, ever
- Tons of different animals with a variety of powerups
- Large number of bonus stages after beating the main game
- Fantastic for a mobile iOS or Android device

Cons
- Heavily based on randomness
- Some stages can feel unfair due to random powerup layouts, ball behavior, etc.
- So addicting you might forget to do other things. Like eat. Or sleep.

It's time for another game about balls!

The Long

There's something about PopCap games that make you forget to do important things, some of which are necessary for daily survival. What, make dinner? I can just eat chips and dip; I'm sure I'll get hungry later. What, sleep? Eh, I wasn't going to fall asleep before 2:00 am anyway. What, breathe? Well, your skin absorbs some oxygen, I'm sure my lungs will figure something out if it's really necessary. And so on.

Peggle might be the worst offender at soul-sucking time wasting out of all of PopCap's games. Yes, even worse than Bejeweled. Essentially a simple physics game with hardly any depth to speak of, Peggle still manages to suck you in with its colorful visuals, great sound effects and music, and the "one more try" or "one more level" problem that makes it so gamers forget to bathe. And eat. And breathe.

So...let's take a look at one of the most addicting games of all time. And no, I'm not talking about World of Warcraft.

They actually put Peggle IN World of Warcraft. As if you needed another excuse to never get off your computer. 

Peggle is a very simple game that pretends it has strategy, when really it requires a hefty dose of luck. Essentially, each level you are presented with a game board that has strategically placed pegs and blocks scattered about (usually in some form of artistic pattern matching a theme). Of these, a good chunk will be colored orange. Your mission (and you'll choose to accept it, until 3:00 in the morning) is to knock out all the orange pegs with the balls allotted. You shoot it from the top of the screen, and it goes bouncing around like the Plinko game from The Price is Right.

Drew Carry, your career has really gone downhill. 

It holds a few tricks. On the bottom of the screen is a container that goes back and forth; manage to land the ball in that and you get a free ball. The more orange pegs that are hit or gone increase a combo meter, which subsequently gives you more points and if you earn a set number of points with a single ball you'll earn another extra ball. Lastly, each stage has two green pegs that provide power-ups based on your character of choice. This can include improved targeting, making the container that moves around the bottom bigger, flippers like a pinball machine, etc. But you'll just always use the dragon's "Fireball" powerup, because it is easily the best.

You may have zen, owl, but you lack the dragon's firepower. Literally. Firepower. HA. 

This concept may sound stupidly simple, and that's because it is. Some pegs move about in set patterns, stages get harder quick, but overall the game's simplicity never changes. Orange and green pegs are randomized even on the same stages, meaning no two games are exactly the same. In time you figure out the physics well enough to calculate to the second or maybe third bounce, but after that it's all luck of the draw.

So how on earth does a game with such a random element work? Well...without dissecting it beyond what is necessary (read: at all) it's the mix of an illusion of control and belief that skill will sway the results along with the random results that keeps you playing. Being able to think you are actually improving (and you do...though you hit a ceiling after a very short amount of time) keeps you going, the new power-ups helping with that as well, but the crazy randomness gives you the idea that "next game will go better." If it were pure skill it would be stressful, and if it were pure randomness it wouldn't have a point. The mix here is a slippery slope, but Peggle pulls it off perfectly.

Then this happens. 

What sells the game, however, it its over-the-top, overly rewarding aesthetic. The game gives you bonus points for just about anything, from long shots to trick shots to just generally doing stuff that it thinks is cool. And by "doing stuff" I mean "having stuff happen randomly 90% of the time." The flashy, crazyness reminds me of the allure of well-made pinball machines, but all this pales when compared to what happens when you are down to the last orange peg. Every shot towards it will cause the camera to zoom in for a crazy slo-mo shot, way more intense than should be allowed for a game about shooting balls at pegs. If you miss a crowd goes "awww..." but if you hit the thing it EXPLODES and "EXTREME FEVER" blasts across the screen, on fire, while a wild version of "Ode to Joy" choruses into your ears. It's...totally bananas.

YOU WIN. CAN YOU TELL?

Honestly, even people who don't like Peggle (all four of you) remember this stage finale, that happens every time you win. While it's overexaggurated to the point of parody, there's no denying there's some sort of euphoric elation and sense of accomplishment every time stupid "Ode to Joy" starts swelling from my speakers. Like the massive amounts of positive feedback the game gives you, this game-ending blast of orchestration is so absurd yet rewarding you want to see each stage to an end, just to hear the song and see the rainbows and explosions again.

You got a lot of characters, but Cinderbottom is the only one you need. 

Seeing as this is a PopCap puzzle game, it is also loaded to the brim with bonus content. The single-player is reasonably long as you go through a variety of stages with all ten characters, each level tailored to their unique skills. After that you can replay any stage with a character of your choosing, making some much easier and others harder. You have challenges where they put more orange pegs on the same maps, as well as a handful of other levels that also include challenges. Duel mode allows you to play back and forth with a friend or bot to compete for score, though the addition of the massive bonus pool if you get Extreme Fever by hitting the last peg makes it kind of really unbalanced. 

As stated, the graphics and sound are cartoony and simple, but work because they are so visually appealing. It's hardly a graphical powerhouse, but the absurd levels of particle effects, explosions, and rainbows are enough to make your eyes bleed.

I am the king of Peggle.

Is Peggle worth looking into? Well, that depends on how much you hate having free time. Despite it's simplicity, PopCap continues to pander digital crack in the form of their casual games, and Peggle is no exception. It's out on pretty much everything (game consoles, phones, World of Warcraft, you name it) and due to its simplistic nature runs well on all devices as well. Considering the iOS version is only $2, I'd suggest picking it up on that platform personally, though the Steam version also has a tendency to go on sale.

While it's easy to dismiss Peggle as a stupid game, it is actually quite a bit of fun in an addicting, somewhat shallow way. Regardless, it's the packaging and the experience that totally sells it, so if you are ready to take the plunge hold your breath and dive in.

Just remember to come up for air. Literally.

Four out of five stars. 

Thanks, hippie.

Insaniquarium! Deluxe

The Short


Pros
- Raise fish to get money, get money to get more fish, all for pointless consumerism
- Unlock a collection of "guest" fish that will help you in levels
- Fight aliens (?!) by...clicking on them?
- After a while, this game really does become an insane aquarium. Or, dare I say, INSANIQUARIUM?!


Cons
- Why on earth is the Deluxe version of this game still $20?!
- The basic Java version/demo/whatever is just as good as the paid version, almost
- Those aliens are jerks and they eat my fish :(
- Also, why the crap isn't this ported to iOS yet? I had it on my ancient Palm Pilot and it was awesome.
- There really isn't much of a game here, but hey...whatever.

That fish's eye is really starting to freak me out. 

The Long

Are regular aquariums too boring for you? Are you tired of the soothing lights, the fish that just sit around and do nothing? Do you wish your aquarium was more INSANE?! Well, dear reader, I can't help you with that, since real fish are boring. But digital fish, however, can be totally bananas! And the game that lets them be totally bananas is Insaniquairum! Deluxe.

Insaniquairum is yet another PopCap game about fish eating other fish. I swear, somebody must have been hungry one day or something, I dunno. The point of the game is simple: have the most insane aquarium ever by raising fish, keeping them healthy, and harvesting cash money from them. Because, while in in the "Real World" fish don't poop gold and diamonds, in the INSANE AQUARIUM they totally do! Man, real life sucks.

This isn't insane! I want my money back!

So the game is pretty dang simple. You have unlimited food that you can drop into the tank, and the fish will eat it when they get hungry. After a while they'll grow, and then they'll start popping better coins. You use these coins to buy more fish, which you then have to keep fed, etc. You can also upgrade how much food you can have at the same time, buy better food to keep them fed longer, etc. It starts simple with just a few fish that just sort of swim around, but before long PopCap ups the ante!

HOLY CRAP IT GOT INSANE

Eventually you get fish that eat other fish, fish worth more money, etc. You'll have to work hard at keeping everybody happy or else they'll go bottom up, which will mean less money for you, fool! You unlock more fish by beating stages, which get harder as time goes along. Eventually you are just tapping/clicking the screen like a madman in an attempt to make sure everything is fed. Which is fine, I guess, but hardly fun.

You can also get special "helper" fish, unique ones that carry between levels, like a snail that gathers coins (the snail makes a return appearance in Plants vs Zombies) or the best one: a "pregnant" fish that makes baby fish every few seconds, which are good for both money and feeding the fish-eating fish. There really isn't much strategy here, to be honest, but hey...whatever. The goal is to just get enough money to buy the egg and then you win, and you do that over and over. But wait...stuff's about to get INSANE. 

WTF ALIENS?!

Yep, ALIENS. Apparently the aliens want your money-spawning fish, so they'll randomly show up. They float around and murder all your fish, so you have to click on them a boatload (less if you upgrade your laser gun) in order to fry them. OH YEAH, SUCK IT ALIENS. The Insaniquarium is like the Thunderdome: Two men enter, one man leaves. Except one of those men was an alien. Or something.

Anyway, that's the whole game. Buy fish, feed fish, shoot aliens. Repeat over a bunch of levels with more fish being added, and you are done. It's alright, I guess, in a weird addicting way (like all PopCap games), but this is hardly deep or anything. 

Hur, "deep." Fish jokes. I LOVE 'EM.

At least they mix up the tanks. 

The "Deluxe" version is basically like the free demo you can probably find online, with a few more features. More fish are available, more levels, and the option to make the game run as a screensaver (OH BOY!). However, for some unexplained reason this game is STILL $20?! Speaking of insane, is PopCap? How the crap could this game be worth that much? Answer: it isn't.

I mean, the game looks ok and all (though very much like a flash game) but come on. To be honest, I'm really surprised they haven't just ported it over to iOS as a $1-$3 app. I had a copy of this game's demo on my really old color Palm Pilot (that I only used to play this game and then swiftly lost) and it worked really good with touch controls (stylus, but whatever). So PORT IT OVER, POPCAP. I'LL BUY IT. BUT NOT FOR $20. 

Buy more crap from a really scary mermaid. 

Anyway, I'd just suggest either playing the free hour demo or the online Java version you can find around. It isn't a bad game, and it's a great time waster (or if you hate fish you can buy them, not feed them, and watch them die). However, for $20 that's...way too much. WAY too much. Actually I just found out it's $10 on Steam, which I guess is a little better, but paying more than $5 feels stupid. I'd probably grab it during a pack sale on Steam (they were selling all of PopCap's games for like $40 the other day), but other than that...stick to the demo.

But seriously...put this on iOS and Andorid. It's a perfect game for it, and those platforms thrive on time-wasters like this.

Three out of five stars. WHAT AN INSANE SCORE.

HOLY SHIIIIIIII

Shark! Shark!

The Short


Pros
- Eat fish to get bigger
- Dodge sharks, or bite their tails for bonus points
- Eventually you will rule the ocean

Cons
- Score based (like most old games), so that's basically it
- When you die you lose your size
- Feeding Frenzy totally ripped this game off. Not even kidding.
- You don't actually play as the shark. How can you have it twice in the title and not give that option?

I only have three screenshots, so this review's gonna be fast. 

The Long

So the Intellivision is actually before my time, but weirdly enough I remember playing this game at some point. I don't remember why. It's also currently available through Xbox's failed experiment Game Room, where I kind of want to buy it now for some stupid reason (even though that would be dumb). Point being: if you got all excited because I'm reviewing an Intellivision game and think I'll be reviewing Atari games or something: I'm sorry. My gaming experiences really started with the NES, so this will probably be the last really old game I review (until I buy an Atari. Which won't happen).

Anyway, Shark! Shark!, aside from having an awesome title, is literally Feeding Frenzy. Or Feeding Frenzy is literally it, since this game came way earlier. Also, Odell Down Under, while I'm referencing games I've reviewed that are just fish eating each other. 

Shark! Shark! is easy enough. You start as a tiny fish, and can only eat other tiny fish. The more you eat, the bigger you get (and more points!). You can also bite the named shark's tail for more points (a tactic blatantly ripped off in Feeding Frenzy 2), which is awesome. 

HE IS GROWING. 

The controls are worth mentioning. You tap a direction with the D-pad and the fish will dash in that direction. He'll keep going in that direction until you tap it another way, clearly accurately simulating how to really control a fish in the treacherous ocean. You can also press A to dash in the current direction you are going, so long as you don't have the D-pad pressed. So it isn't 1:1 stick controls, which makes the game a bit more difficult and fun!

An annoying thing is that, when you die, you lose all your size. So you keep your score but basically have to start over. That straight up sucks, so don't die. 

Sound effects are what you'd expect from an ancient Intellivision game, and they are fine overall. There is only this one screen you see above, so I hope you like it. Since this is an old points-based arcade-esque game, I guess whining about not having multiple stages is stupid, but seriously...there isn't much to this. 

KING OF THE OCEAN. 

In a really simple way, Shark! Shark! still remains a bit of fun to this day. It also has an awesome title (it just sounds exciting) even if it's stupid that you can't play as the shark. Though it does get massive after 100,000 points, which is great.

Anyway, it's like $2 on Xbox 360's failed Game Room, so if you like eating fish, go buy Feeding Frenzy 2 instead. This game was actually massively popular back in the day, but now it's just...you eat fish. That's it.

Giving this game a score is stupid, but hey...I still liked it better than the original Feeding Frenzy, so it gets Three out of Five. Suck on that. At least it doesn't look like a Flash game.

Skip to 6:44 for some Shark! Shark! action. 

Odell Down Under

The Short


Pros
- "Edutainment" game involving eating smaller fish while avoiding bigger fish...hey this sounds familiar
- Has like thirty fish to play as an many different locations and scenarios
- Every fish plays completely differently, based on its actual natural predators and prey
- Looks pretty good for an old PC game
- I love that fish go "ARRRGGGHHH" when they die

Cons
- Kind of boring
- Some fish are overpowered. Learn to balance your games, Mecc. Wait, actual marine biology? PFFFFFT.
- For being "Edutainment," in order to learn I'd actually have to read the fish facts before I picked them. Like that's gonna happen.

Good ol' 265 colors. 

The Long

This is a weird game to review, because technically I never owned it. Growing up we played it at the computer lab at our local school department, though we mostly played it at the Children's Museum in L.A. of all places. And even though technically I probably haven't played it enough to give a fair review, it's a freaking ancient Edutainment game so I think you'll let it slide if the last time I played this game I was like...ten. 

Since I've been reviewing the Feeding Frenzy games (read review for #1 and #2!) I figured I'd review the game it obviously was inspired by (though PopCap made a casual game that does not follow actual fish biology, despite me saying otherwise in my Feeding Frenzy review). Odell Down Under is the sequel to Odell Lake, which was more of a text-adventure fish eating game rather than one where you actually swim around. Let me tell you: having to pick from a menu to eat fish is super boring guys.

SNORE. 

So in the "sequel," Odell Down Under, they book it from the lake and focus on fish that live by Australia and in the ocean. And it's a lot better for it.

The concept is actually more of survival rather than "eat everything and get big." In order to stay alive you have to both eat other fish and avoid the dangerous ones. If you are a herbivore, you actually have to just eat the plants. If you are a carnivore, you have to learn to recognize which fish are poisonous and which are safe to eat, and which can kill you. Each fish's "stats" are based on their actual biological characteristics, so just because a fish is smaller doesn't mean you can chow-down. It's a clever way to trick kids into learning about actual fish facts, even if most kids would just play the practice mode where you play as a shark and just eat everything that moves. 

Guess what. Sea Urchins are poisonous. Just because you can eat something means you should. Like McDonalds. 

The game gives you a small grid to explore, and tons of fish to interact with. Seriously, there's like thirty or more fish in this game, and you'd better learn 'em all if you are going to not become food (or eat something and die). Different fish come out at different times of day/night, so that's something you have to be aware of as well. It's tricky, especially when you play as the tiny herbivores (which basically means you become a snack for the bigger fish while you are trying to eat plants), but it's weirdly fun. There are no real goals rather than the ultimate one: SURVIVAL. You don't magically grow or anything; you just want to live. Which is weirdly...fun? I think?

You can learn stuff about fish, or just zap stuff with the Ray's stinger. 

The game looks pretty decent for an old Windows 95 game. They use the 256 colors well enough, and the fish all animate smoothly. I dare say the animate better than Feeding Frenzy 2, which is kind of sad considering the massive time gap between these games. Also, fish go AAAAAARRRGGGHHHH when you eat them or get eaten, which is hilarious. It sounds more frustrated than actually dying, which makes it even funnier, like I minorly inconvenienced them by eating them. 

arrrrgh

There really isn't a goal in the game besides getting better and eventually unlocking the shark, which I suppose is a decent enough goal. Mostly it's just here so you'll learn more about fish, and to be honest I don't remember jack crap about fish from this game sixteen years later. I do remember to not eat urchins, though, which has probably saved my life more times than you'd think. So thanks, Odell Down Under. You're a real pal.

I have no idea what sort of score to give this game. I was freaking obsessed with it as a kid for whatever reason (which is also probably why I secretly liked the Feeding Frenzy games) but...I dunno. It's to teach kids stuff. What, am I going to review The Oregon Trail on Apple II now? Actually, yeah, I should totally do that sometime. That would be awesome. Hunting in that game is great.

Anyway, if you have a kid who really likes fish and also somehow own a Windows 95 machine that supports floppy discs or whatever this game came out on (and you can find a copy) then why not. I liked it, but that was also a simpler time. But hey, pound-for-pound you won't find more Australian fish facts in any other game ever made, so it has that going for it.

Four out of five stars? Why does this even matter? 

You think Demon Souls is hard? Try playing Odell Down Under with the Silver Sprat and surviving more than ten minutes. Seriously. You can't. You are prey. 

Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown

The Short


Pros
- Takes the addicting formula of Feeding Frenzy and amps up the modes
- Co-op for the main campaign is excellent
- Main campaign also mixes it up much more frequently and to a greater detail than Feeding Frenzy
- Has a wide variety of silly minigames
- Graphics are much improved over the original

Cons
- Still essentially the same thing over and over, albeit mixed up a little this time
- While graphics are decent they aren't exactly gorgeous
- Limited replay options

Time for some more fish eatin'.  

The Long

So after getting hooked on the original Feeding Frenzy, we decided to take the dive and pick up the second game. The oddly subtitled Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown promised better graphics, more varied gameplay, and a co-op mode as well as a handful of minigames.

Guess what? It delivered, resulting in a "deeper" (hur hur) casual game than it's predecessor, though it still remained a bit simplistic and light on overall content. 

There are more levels and fish to play as this time.

Essentially, the game at its core hasn't changed. Eat fish smaller than you, get big, win. Repeat every stage, as you keep shrinking down between them. After a set number of levels you'll swap to a different fish that plays almost exactly the same as the previous ones. So there's that. 

What PopCap does better in this sequel is mix stuff up along the way. There's more "bad" fish to eat, including poison fish that reverse your controls, squid that can shoot ink at you and disorient your fish, etc. You can jump out of the water to eat bugs and perform tricks on certain levels, which is entertaining. Some particularly unique levels are the angler fish, which happen mostly in the dark and require you to eat lights to see what is going on. Again, not a huge amount of new variety here, but certainly a lot more than the first game. 

You can jump out of the water for power-ups and bugs, but watch out for birds!

There's a wider range of power-ups as well, which helps because the increased level variety also ups the difficulty. Feeding Frenzy 2 isn't a particularly difficult game, but it certainly is faster than the first game, and with increased options comes more way to screw up. It's a strong blend, and while it's still a very "casual" game, it maintains the addictive quality of the first Feeding Frenzy.

Another awesome addition for the XBLA and PSN versions of the game is full co-op. Now you and a friend or significant other can play together, both working to eat fish, avoid bigger fish (and mines, the bane of my wife's existence) and grow big and then go on an eating spree. The only real downside with co-op is you share both lives and size progress, so if one of you gets eaten all progress to the next "rank up" is lost, even if the other player is still alive. Annoying, but it works. 

The "Frenzy" combo meter is still here, which will help you get more points and rank up faster. As it stands, it's just a slightly deeper game than the original, shallow offering presented in Feeding Frenzy. But co-op makes up for a lot.

The Xbox/PS3 versions also have four player minigames. These are not in the PC version. 

There's a handful of minigames you can play with your friends; about...six in total? Sorry; I should probably fact check this, but just know they are reasonably fun and can be a decent diversion. The favorite for us was the one where one person is a tiny fish and the rest are big fish. Eating the tiny fish turns you tiny, and you only gain score when you are little. Kind of like Juggernaut mode in Halo, but fishier. Anyway, it turns into a frantic madhouse quickly, which I'm all for. And while the minigames won't exactly have you coming back for more (especially since there are so few of them) they are worth a chuckle. 

This image came up when I searched for "Feeding Frenzy 2." I felt it appropriate. 

Graphically, the game looks a lot better than the original Feeding Frenzy, which I have difficulty believing is even in HD. Everything looks crisper, the water effects are better, and the color is more vibrant. It still is very simple, but the fish look less like cardboard cutouts floating around, and it all is easy on the eyes. Sounds are also good, with more chomping noises (the most important part) and a few light, watery tunes to play during stages. 

Not all the minigames are winners. 

As it stands, Feeding Frenzy 2 is a solid diversion, especially if you have a spouse or girlfriend to play it with. the $10 asking price on XBLA is a bit steep, though; $5 might be more in line with the game's value. Unfortunately, nobody remembers this game exists anymore, so waiting for a discount would probably be fruitless. Hopefully PopCap drops the price permanently, like they did with so many other of their XBLA releases. 

Regardless, Feeding Frenzy 2 is a large jump over its original, and those looking for some casual, fish eating fun could certainly do worse. Like the first game. Which is worse. 

Three out out of five stars. 

Feeding Frenzy 3 should involve sushi somehow. 

Feeding Frenzy

The Short


Pros
- Simple, "eat fish to get bigger to eat bigger fish" game
- Despite having literally no depth (hur hur ocean joke), the game is oddly addicting
- Bonus stages and special activities help mix things up
- Time Trial and other modes included
- Was my wife's first favorite Xbox 360 game

Cons
- Really simple
- Really repetitive
- Doesn't mix things up enough
- Short
- Graphics are also simple, and while they have style look rather bland
- Time Trial is stupidly unbalanced. It gets way easier after the first few levels
- Achievements require stupid amounts of grinding
- Doesn't play very well on mouse and keyboard vs controller

If there's anything I like, it's eating seafood. 

The Long

So along with Luxor 2 (aka "Suxxor 2," hur hur wit), when we bought our brand spanking new Xbox 360 way back in 2008 it also came with a handful of other Xbox Live Arcade Titles. One of these was Feeding Frenzy, made by the fine folks at PopCap to invade our subconscious and sell more seafood. A simple game about fish eating fish, it was either play that or Eternal Sonata, and considering how lazy we were at swapping discs we tried Feeding Frenzy out instead.

And something about it weirdly resonated with my wife, and she played it non-stop for...quite a while. I think we beat the whole game in only two nights.

So with that in mind, I've decided to give Feeding Frenzy my usual unbiased assessment. After playing its sequel (which we bought the second my wife found out it existed), is Feeding Frenzy really worth playing? And, despite all the great memories we had, I'm sorry to say the answer is "no." Feeding Frenzy just isn't that great of a game, when you boil it down.

But there is still something there that hooked my wife, so read on.

It's a fish-eat-fish world under the sea. 

Feeding Frenzy is about as simple as it gets. You start a stage as a little fish. At this point, the goal is to just eat fish that are smaller than you and avoid becoming food for everybody else. Eventually, when you eat enough, you'll "level up" and become bigger in an instant (which is totally how fish evolution and development works. Trust me. I got my Marine Biology merit badge in Boy Scouts.) and then those fishy bastards that were one rank up that kept eating you are now your food, ha ha! Repeat the process one more time and you'll be king of the ocean, and then you simply reach the end of the bar to win.

Every single stage is like this. I have literally described the entire game.

CHOMP. 

The only real trick comes in getting "Frenzies" (hence the name). Eat a lot of fish in a row and you get bonus points. Get enough bonus points and you'll get extra lives, and a place on the totally hacked XBLA leaderboards. So there really isn't much for the points, I guess. I think it also makes you grow bigger, but I might be confusing it with the second game. Whoops.

The game also gives you new fish to try, and a few stages are a bit different (there's one where the currents are fast so fish go flying and it's hard to control, etc.). There are also bonus stages that require eating a number of fish in a time limit and what have you, and it keeps adding unique fish that do weird things (like puffer fish you have to sneak up on, etc.) but they really don't do much. While it does seem to add new stuff at a decent clip, the core element and scenarios doesn't ever really change, so the whole thing feels like the same grind over and over. You shrink back to tiny between every stage, so each time you are back at square one. These fish must have crazy metabolisms. 

There's a decent single player and the same thing with "Time Trial," and that's about it. 

Unlike most PopCap games, this one doesn't have much content. All the stages can be seen in the graphic above, with clear indications when you switch fish. It's fine (and the Orca is awesome) but still...just the same thing over and over.

I will admit, however, there is a strange draw, which is how PopCap earns its place amongst the gaming greats. Levels are quick, simple, and easy, and the fish control quickly. You soon get a dash ability as well as a "vacuum" suck ability to catch large groups at once, which is nifty. Since stages are so quick they can pull off the whole "one more level" thing, and before you know it it's two in the morning. However, just because a game is addicting doesn't mean it's really good, and Feeding Frenzy just...isn't that good. 

Free Willy. Eat sharks. 

It also looks kind of awful. The graphics would look bad even in an online flash game, and the animations are choppy and poor. While I'll admit the "CHOMP" sound effect is funny and the "FRENZY" voice is also pretty great, the images look static and not like they are even under water. It's like playing with badly animated cardboard cutouts. It blows my mind this is in "HD" and on the same console that can punch out stuff like Gears of War 3. I mean, come on. At least try here.

Music is decent, and as I mentioned the sound effects are all fun and evoke the sounds of...well, devouring other fish with large crunches. 

I'm running out of screenshots, so now you get the Xbox Live menu screen. 

As it stands, Feeding Frenzy really isn't worth the asking price of $5. This is especially so because the sequel, Feeding Frenzy 2, is also on XBLA and PC and is way better. It's essentially the same core addicting gameplay in the second but with more variety, options, levels, and multiplayer (both co-op and competitive mini-games). So in comparison, Feeding Frenzy is looking pretty bare-bones. 

If you have a weird inclination for fish-eating-fish based video games, I'd say ignore Feeding Frenzy and grab the second one. The second one is also co-op, which means you can play it with your significant other, and it looks better, plays better, and actually has a decent amount of content. As much as I love you, PopCap, and as much as I'm glad my wife found a game to play on our new Xbox 360, this game should be caught and released.

Get it? Fish jokes. Not to bait you on or anything, but I might be jumping the shark with all these fishy fish puns. 

Ok, I'm done. At least I tried. Two out of five stars. 

Oh yeah, this is what the XBLA version looks like. All the rest are PC. Probably should have mentioned that earlier...whatever.