Limburger, cheddar, Monterey Jack…whatever types of fermented dairy products Nicolinux, the developers of Need For Cheese had in mind, they have released their crazy little pick-up-and-play game in the App Store. Need For Cheese should get bonus points for the name alone and though Need For Cheese is a crazy little game that frustrated more than challenged me, the cuteness factor kind of makes up for it.

Need For Cheese is a purely accelerometer based game that features a mouse and a bunch of insane cats. You control the mouse with tilt controls and the cats are the bad guys you avoid. Unlike similar games I’ve reviewed liked Dodgem, that have the same general premise, Need For Cheese has an addictive nature that stems more from aesthetics than game play. It simply has cute, but not too cute, sound effects and background music. At first, I was more taken with these aspects than the gameplay itself.

Once I got over the initial “awwww…” factor, I gave Need For Cheese a few good goes. It’s hard. It was clearly carefully designed to be responsive to the tilt control and it is. I like the background grid, which almost serves as a guide, but there are a few things I think are missing. To begin with, Need For Cheese might not be just a survival game where you are trying to keep your mouse alive for the longest time, because it appears you are also trying to clear the level by filling up the cheese meter.

Eating cheese while avoiding the crazy cats is kind of fun, but if you bump one cat, the game ends. It took me forever to last long enough to eat cheese to even fill the meter three-quarters of the way, and by that time I was starting to become agitated. I have no idea what happens if you fill the cheese meter; maybe it’s just there and the clock is the only real focus. It would be great if you could gradually advance through several difficulty levels rather than only selecting between three, though.

I think with time and practice, Need For Cheese would become easier for me, but keep in mind that while I’m not great with the tilt control in a lot of games, I was playing Need For Cheese on “easy.” I can’t even begin to imagine trying to survive for more than 30 seconds on the “insane” setting. Aside from mastering the controls to avoid cats and eat cheese, there are also temporary power-ups available in the form of radioactive shots that makes the mouse invincible for one cat encounter, but while he’s radioactive the mouse can’t eat cheese.

In the App Store, the developer states future updates might include cat boss levels. Great idea. Except I’d like to suggest giving the mouse an extra life or two for the sake of longevity. Also, it’d be nice if the mouse could eat the cheese while he’s in radioactive mode so you could continue playing while strategically planning the use of his temporary cat resistance.

Need For Cheese is a cute little game that provides quick, casual playtime, but I would recommend trying the free version before buying this one to see if you find it addicting in a good, challenging way or merely frustrating. The free version only offers “easy” mode, but if you can ace that and want the real challenge, go for the full version or check out the “insane” demo video below.

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category: Games, Worthwhile Apps