Food Chain - Review

Food Chain
Company: Cajun Games
Estimated Price: $14.99
http://www.cajungames.com

Back when I did the review for Gridz, I wrote: “The gaming world is a rare place to find an innovative and “new” concept.” Shortly after writing that review, I was once again proven just how wrong I can be at times.

Food Chain is a great game! Truly innovative and original!

In Food Chain, the object is to keep life going by having at least one of each species alive at all times. However, that is not very easy to do, but it is tons of fun to try! You are presented with four species: the Yug Yugs (the purplish-pink guy); the Hovenboofs (the yellow horse-guy); the Magmaraptors (the red bird); and the Seaosaurs (the green lizard-thing).

It works like this. The Yug Yugs eat each other as well as the Magmaraptors. The Magmaraptors eat the Seaosaurs (unless the Seaosaurs are in the water), the Seaosaurs eat the Hovenboofs, and the Hovenboofs eat the Yug Yugs (but also dine on grass). Better yet, just look at the picture below to get a better idea!

Food Chain Picture 2 Now that you know the order of the food chain, you’re all set to play! Each species gets a life span. At the end of their life span (which you can see by a clock-like counter) they die. The game is laid out on a grid playing field. There are only twenty-five grids, so that you can only have 25 things on the board at any one time. If something dies (not eaten), it turns into grass. But you can’t put any creature on the grass afterwards (which makes Hovenboofs very important as they keep the grass away). Now if you don’t get rid of the grass it turns into a tree, which is impossible to get rid of. In other words, that grid is now useless.

At each turn, you are given the piece you must lay on the board. It can be any one of the four species above, as well as water or the ability to turn a character in a certain direction. For one character to eat another, it must first be facing the character it wants to eat. While a Yug Yug can eat a bird in the next grid, it must be facing the bird to do so. For each turn, the game gives you the character facing a certain way. You cannot change the way he is facing when you lay him on the board. However, you do have a “Pick” option that allows you to change the character and the direction he is facing. You start the game with only one pick, but you can acquire more as the game goes on.

Food Chain Picture 3 The graphics for Food Chain are great. Each is hand drawn and beautifully rendered. (I especially like it when a Yug Yug eats another Yug Yug!) The motion of the characters was both smooth and entertaining to watch. And the sound effects were unobtrusive and added just the perfect blend to this slightly twisted game (“twisted” being used in the most favorable way here).

Food Chain is a very fun and entertaining game. What is the most amazing thing about the game is the price! At only $14.99, you simply can’t go wrong. In fact, for this price, you may feel like you’re taking advantage of Cajun Games! This game is that good!

System Requirements:
Mac OS compatible computer with 68040 processor or higher, System 7.1.2 or later, 5MB free RAM, 9MB free hard disk space.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, download the trial version of Food Chain at http://www.CajunGames.com/foodchain/FoodChainInstaller.bin

MacMice Rating: 4.5