A Funny Game About Cannibalism
You have to keep things pretty light and packed with charm if you're going to have any chance of gaining laughs from cannibalism - unless you're Seth MacFarlane. Can Australian developer Grapple Gun Games walk this thinnest of tightropes while delivering killer gameplay? We'll find out for sure on March 27, when its game Tasty Tasty Grandpa will bless the App Store, but a look at the trailer below suggests that its heart is in the right place and that you can feel ethically free to set your face to laugh.
The game's main narrative drive does make perfect sense. You're a baby, and you eat older people to get wiser (and grandpas, as the wisest, are the tastiest of all). As you get wiser, you get older and the next-generation of babies will try and eat you even as the number of older people available for your consumption begin to thin out. If you make it through this troubled midlife crisis you get to deliver some baby comeuppance before collapsing in your grave as a happy grumpy old man.... only to emerge as a smarter, more powerful baby with an even greater thirst for stuffy opinions and hairy ears. It all unfolds with rich colours and simple 2D brawling gameplay that the developer is calling an eat 'em up.
Maybe you have to be an Aussie to get this kind of humour, but I think it's a pretty inventive twist on depicting life's journey. Plus the developer told me that, "it’s a metaphor for life, told through the mechanic of cannibalism" and that "going ‘hands on’ with a grandpa has never felt so right!" I like these dudes. Anyway enjoy the trailer - I dare you. I'd watch it, but I am having an old friend for lunch...
Also be sure to check out Issue 1 of Grab It - The Game Discovery App. It includes 22 in-depth reviews of indie iPad games, 14 exclusive interviews and five big features including our big reveal for the amazing Thralled.
If you are looking for something else good to play, why not check out our 50 Best Indie iOS Games of 2013 awards.
