Eating Fish Has Reached New Depths.

Mobile Review: Hungry Shark Evolved - Eating fish in style.

You’re a shark, you’re hungry, and you earn points for devouring aquatic prey. That’s all you need to know to play this game - but I can expand.

You control a shark with a speedy digestive tract and an insatiable hunger that borders on an eating disorder. Your diet consists of surf and turf prey smaller than your current size but as you eat more your shark will expand and grow in size –naturally. Eventually after much feasting you’ll be able to take on –and even eat- some bigger beasties that terrorise the same territories. 

In the game, as in actual life, there is a food chain and just because you’re a shark certainly doesn't make you the Don of the ocean. Your biggest threats are sharks 3x your size. Thankfully they are deep ocean dwellers that you don’t encounter too frequently. I found the other dangers to be more annoying than “dangerous” and you can easily bump into them during a frenzy of blood and scales like the Jelly fish, for example.

We all know this is how nature really works.

Similarly, toxic dumps will infect you, speed boats will bounce off your head and chip away at your health, and underwater mines will bob innocuously. However just being a greedy ass shark that needs a constant supply of food to keep from dying is also a danger since swimming will slowly kill you. Come to think of it, there’s a drama story in there - something about a shark with a debilitating eating problem or a disease that is slowly killing it and in order to survive needs a constant supply of food. Maybe take the shark out and make it about a vampire… anyway expect some cheap deaths.

So having established the games main mechanic is eating and surviving you might be wondering, ‘what’s the point of it all this?’ 

Well, eating sea life also nets you coinage that you can then expend in all those underwater banks and armament clamshell stores! It’s tough times for aquatic life, what with global warming and oceanic contamination. You can build your 3 skills to help you become a more lethal, lethal killing machine or you can deck out your shark with comical adornments and badassery protection like Kevlar for mines. 

There is the option to make micro transactions that will get you most of everything more quickly like ‘continues’ or newer sharks, but these are already things you can get with the in game currency.

Jason Brody would have a challenge socking this guy in the face.

Consecutive kills will build your score multiplier and when you reach specific tiered amounts you unlock HSE’s equivalent of the invincibility star, or more accurately 100 gold rings. When you enter super mode you double your score on every fish you eat and you are able to eat pretty much whatever you darn well please at that point. So it’s in your best interest to eat as many schools of fish as possible. 

A simple premise, bold visuals, vibrant colours, and some entertaining gameplay make HSE an easily addictive mobile game that’s well worth picking up, and considering it’s a free purchase there’s commuting lengths of fun to be had from this game. Did I also mention you can purchase body armour for your shark? That’s worth downloading a free game at least.

Should you bother: YES

Pro's:

• Good visuals.
• Addictive and entertaining gameplay.
• Simple, fun mechanics that feel responsive.

Con's

• Interruptions will reset your game, losing your progress.
• Grinding may be necessary.
• Easy cheap deaths.

By Rod-the-Pod, 02-Apr-2013