Any person who is familiar with the Xbox Live Marketplace will recognise the PopCap Games brand, the people who brought you Bejeweled 2. However, standing somewhat in Bejeweled's shadow is a far lesser known game. Feeding Frenzy is a bright and colourful title in which you take the role of a tiny fish right at the bottom of the food chain, who must eat other fish the same size to grow larger until he is the most dominant force in the sea.
The game encorperates two game modes; both the normal 40 levels where you have to progress through wihout losing all of your lives, and a Time Attack mode. However, neither mode presents much of a challenge, and there is no ability to change it. The gameplay mechanic is such a beautifully simple concept. As you start out as a small fish, there are many fish swimming on the screen which are bigger than you, and will eat you if you come into contact with you. The skill is managing to dodge the large fish to get to the smaller ones to grow in size, making the larger ones available for eating. As you progress through the levels, other obstacles present themselves; including paralyzing jellyfish and exploding bombs, but you also get provided with bubble powerups and special skills to aid you on your journey.
The one thing that is truly memorable about this game is the vibrant graphics. Each type of fish you encounter is rendered brightly and uniquely, and the marine backgrounds are simple but stunning. It's hard not to be sucked into the dashes of colour as you progress. The sound that accompanies compliments the graphics, it's hard not to smile when hearing a comical 'chomp' sound when you eat a smaller fish. However, the actual backing music is lacking.
The only gripe with this game is that it is quite short, you could complete it easily under an hour if you tried, and there is very few compelling reasons to replay except to relax and enjo the game for what it is. There are a couple of achievements for 10 hours of gameplay and eating 40,000 fish, but the most compelling feature is trying to get the highest score on the leaderboards.
Despite the lovable graphics and simplistic play style, it's hard to actually recommend this game. If you're not looking for a deep, story driven game and just want to relax, then this may indeed be the game for you. However, for the same price there are many full game experiences that will give you more bang for your buck, it all depends on what you're looking for in your title.
