I’m not sure when it was that sharks joined the pantheon of memes that people everywhere pick up on immediately along with ninjas and pirates. It was probably whenever the first Shark Week aired, or when people started joking about Shark Week in general. In any case, Hungry Shark Part 1 does a great job capitalizing on our fascination with sharks by letting the player become the most ravenous shark there ever was.
Hungry Shark Part 1’s title is no laughing matter. This is a very hungry shark. You move your phone to move your shark, and whichever way he goes, he’ll eat up all the people and other fish in his path. There is something tremendously satisfying about getting your shark to crunch into a nosy deep sea diver as the blood sprays out from your hungry jaws.
Your shark can eat almost anything, including special bonus items like a bike, that sits in the ocean. You will encounter a few choice enemies like bombs, jelly fish and puffer fish that will end your stay on the ocean floor more quickly than anticipated.
Players also have to grapple with their shark’s terrible eating disorder. That is, if he doesn’t eat constantly, he begins to perish. If you have trouble finding food, it could be curtains for your finned friend.
The flip side is that your shark loves to eat so much that he grows exponentially every time you level up. What begins as a fairly modest shark is soon large enough to take down the very serious shark hunters that troll the ocean.
While Hungry Shark Part 1 can be difficult to get into initially, mostly because twisting your phone and using the accelerometer to control your shark is a tricky way to move, a little patience is greatly rewarded with a fun playing experience.
For a game that could be mostly dull blues, the colors here look great, and the animation more than gets the job done. If you could levy a complaint anywhere it would be that dying happens all too easily. Run into a few bombs or do a bad job of finding food, and your lights go out sooner than anticipated. This isn’t so bad early, but once you’ve achieved some ground in the game it can be frustrating.
I suppose, though, it works as an initiative to get you to play again. I’ve yet to see the fully evolved shark, and I don’t intend to stop until I do. So there you have it. Hungry Shark Part 1 has me, hook, line and sinker.
