Now see here: I’m not happy about this being a PS3 exclusive, and worse – download only, but in times like this, I have no choice. Sure, I have to brave the PS3 controller, and yeah, it took three days to download on my terrible connection, but having seen it at Eurogamer it was a NEED.
And it is totally nuts. It’s set in Tokyo after an as-yet unknown event whereby humankind were wiped out. You take control of an animal (to start with, a deer or a pomeranian) and have to survive: Eat, drink, fight, reproduce. Basic stuff.
Of course, it isn’t so simple as other animals are roaming the Tokyo wastes. Smaller ones that you can avoid or take down. Larger ones that want to kill you. Areas get polluted and slowly kill you. Food runs scarce, or just runs away. It’s a jungle out there.
So far, I’ve played as both carnivores (pomeranian, alley cat) and herbivores (deer, chick). The main difference between the two types is that carnivores have to hunt prey to eat, whereas herbivores eat plants. And run away a lot. Each game has run more or less the same way: I’ve been merrily, well, surviving, and after some reproducing and eating and hiding, I run into an area filled with lions/sabre toothed tigers/hyenas/panthers/velociraptors and in the process of running away get stuck in a dead end and my dog/car/deer/chick gets eaten. Bah.
Then I play again. It’s horribly addictive.