We are all feeling the financial pinch! Blue Plate Special is a weekly review of bargain apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nothing over $.99.
It seems that my weekly trip through the app store looking for cheap gems has brought yet another addicting game. I mean, even I need a short break from Angry Birds! Apple’s latest event stated that the iPod Touch is the number one portable gaming device. The numbers are not in front of me, but I will argue that my iPhone has become a wonderful gaming option. My sons play on my wife’s iPhone a lot more than they play with their DSi anymore. Well, I have now added Hoggy to my list of fun on the IOS platform. Lets check out how this little, pink slime mold will help pass the time.
The game is played as Hoggy the slime mold. I assume he is named Hoggy because he loves to eat. The Moon Men swoop down and kidnap your girlfriend and you have to eat fruit and solve puzzles through 45 jar worlds. As the screen shots show, the levels have a familiar look and theme. Like maybe a game where a princess is kidnapped?!? That is really where the similarity ends, but it was the first thought of mine when I first opened the game. Hoggy is a side scrolling puzzler that brings back the fun of the old Nintendo style games of my youth.
Unlike most scrolling games, Hoggy cannot jump. To move the slime mold around the world, simply tilt the device and he will move that direction. To maneuver around objects, tap the screen and his gravity reverses sending Hoggy either up or down. I found all of the controls to be intuitive and responsive. In fact, the more you play the game, the more speed can become a factor. Each jar world is a puzzle in which a series of keys open a series of doors taking Hoggy one step closer to saving his girlfriend.
To obtain the keys, Hoggy must enter the jars and eat some fruit. To enter the jars, tap the screen when opposite the jar and he will drop right in. Inside the jars awaits puzzles of varying difficulty. Keep away from the enemies while eating all of the fruit. When the fruit is eaten, the key will appear and Hoggy will be taken back out of the jar. Some of the levels simply require you to walk around and eat while others require careful planning and timing in order to earn the key. There are also special blocks that must be used to solve the puzzle. Eating an acorn turns Hoggy into a block which will explode bricks returning him to his normal state. There are also blocks and switches that must be bumped in order to solve the puzzles.
Hoggy has proven to be both fun and addictive. To understand and appreciate the idea of the game and how the controls affect the game play, you must just play the game. Even though Hoggy resembles awesome side scrolling games of old, the game has a truly unique theme and game style that make it both recognizable and yet refreshingly new. Right now, Hoggy is completely free! So if you have any curiosity, there is no excuse not to play the game. If the game is enjoyable and not enough, the developers have added 37 lost levels that were not originally included. So for a total of $.99 you are really getting two games. Now, that is a bargain! Check out Hoggy here in the app store for free.
What I Like: A truly unique storyline and game play make this a fun and addictive scrolling puzzle game.
What Needs Improvement: I would like to see more abilities added to Hoggy. He seems so helpless only being able to reverse his gravity.
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