Hungry Lizards Review

Our Review by David Rabinowitz on June 4th, 2013

Rating:

:: JUMPING REPTILES

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Hungry Lizards is a casual arcade game in which players control a jumping lizard and try to catch flying bugs.

Developer: Basic Function
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 5

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Hungry Lizards is a universal iOS game made by two independent developers. It has simple gameplay that lacks frills, but makes itself worth the $0.99 price tag with numerous playing options. In this game, the goal is to make a lizard jump and stick out its tongue at the precise time needed to catch flying bugs. The concept certainty isn’t identical to any other game, but it is essentially an arcade game that requires precise timing.

Just like the concept, the controls are simple as well. Tapping once causes the lizard to jump and tapping again causes it to shoot its tongue out. It’s not possible to move the lizard around side to side on the platforms, so players are limited to just jumping back and forth between the two platforms. Although there are very few controls, it took me some time to get the timing down. It’s especially tricky to time when to jump to catch bugs that fly in on the same side as the lizard. Each bug gives a different number of points. One bug, the ladybug, is a 2X multiplier, and the hornet actually takes away points.

Even though Hungry Lizards is a casual game it offers a lot of playing options. Players can compete against the clock, an AI opponent, or against another person with Game Center, Bluetooth, or Facebook. If competing against someone isn’t appealing, then Hungry Lizards also has co-op available with the same options. With all of the different choices for game modes, there’s well over 10 different ways to play.

There are 10 levels to unlock, but each one is basically two platforms in a different setting. The backgrounds change from the desert, to the city, to a pool, and a bunch of other spots, but each one has two places to jump between.

Hungry Lizards is $0.99 and the producers claim that there will never be in-app purchases or downloadable content that costs money. I’m happy to hear this and wish more developers would follow suit. To sum it all up, the gameplay in Hungry Lizards is on par with most arcade games out there, but all the different playing modes it what makes it different.