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Number of Ratings: 9
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1-9 of 9 - Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), October 29, 2022
- Kinetic Mouse Car, August 6, 2022
A very buggy game, June 7, 2022
I’ve said in other reviews that I think it’s really hard to make a successful “message game”, where the game’s main goal is to make some kind of political or cultural point – in my experience they too quickly devolve into humorless, didactic gameplay where the obvious right answers are rewarded and the obvious bad ones are punished, with no real authentic engagement with the nuances of an issue and the important questions of design, plot, and character left almost completely neglected, making even those who agree with the politics on offer resentful and unhappy.
Good Grub! is a message game, and if I’m honest it fits the above description pretty much to a tee – plus it’s got only the basic Twine visual design –but with one key difference: it throws that “humorless” bit way out the window, meaning that I was more than happy to laugh my way through three different playthroughs. Maybe that makes me shallow, but I was having so much fun none of the other things I’ve previously harped on as flaws mattered at all.
It helps that the message here isn’t one that I’ve seen argued to death in online flamewars: it’s that eating insects can be an environmentally sustainable element in a healthy diet. I suppose some folks could find the idea gross, and I have to confess I do too to – but that’s just because I’m vegetarian and eating anything alive kinda freaks me out; meeting protein needs through bugs doesn’t seem inherently weirder than doing it through curdled soy milk, after all.
Anyway, the way the game makes its point is by having you choose the main features of an insect-only restaurant you’re launching, then go on a radio interview to promote it. Success and failure are definitely possible, but the game is short enough, and funny enough, that you’ll probably want to play through a bunch of times to see many of the options. Some have definite right and wrong answers – warming my heart as a life-long user of public transit, the clear worst choice in the game is to drive to the interview when you have other options – but for the most part it’s forgiving, with successful possible even if you decide e.g. to name your restaurant “La Cucaracha”, like an asshole (I named my restaurant La Cucaracha first time out).
It’s a short but well-considered design, with the initial set of choices leading to payoff as you try to sell the place in the interview, and the ultimate reveal of whether your business succeeds or fails. Gameplay-wise, the only critique I have is that I wish there was a “replay” button at the end it make it easier to try out different branches. It’s solid enough, but again, what makes it sing is the humor. I don’t want to quote too many of the other things that made me laugh, because most of the joy of Good Grub! is seeing how the playful narrative voice responds to your choices, but I can’t resist one pointer: whatever you do, make sure you try naming your restaurant “Big Bill’s Big ol’ Bug Emporium while ensuring the game knows you are not yourself named Bill.
Is Good Grub! good enough to make me rethink my generally downbeat outlook on message games? I suppose not – if I take a step back, it really does share many of the limitations I outlined at the top – but it does apply demonstrate that with enough charm, you can get away with anything.
- nf, April 27, 2022
3 of
3 people found the following review helpful:
Q: What do you call a blood-sucking, barbecued insect? A: A Mesquite-o., April 27, 2022This is a short lecture on the merits of eating insects, written as if delivered by an annoyingly self-righteous person who has cornered you in the kitchen at a party. Good choices are rewarded with success, bad choices with sarcasm and snark. Nevertheless it does deliver some genuine laughs along with its environmental messages, and is wise enough not to outstay its welcome. Eat bugs, everyone! They're good for you and good for the planet.
Buggy, April 26, 2022Bugs are delicious!
Really!
I’ve tried them and they are!
(mealworm burger and barbecued grasshoppers if you’re curious)
Good Grub is delicious too!
A small choicy snack with an environmental kick and a good sprinkling of peppery jokes. Nice!
Smugness simulator: Edutainment about eating bugs, April 23, 2022This game's tone reads like a game parody of Neil deGrasse Tyson's 'well, actually' twitter posts (like when he pointed out that leap day isn't the earth actually leaping). The tone is very heavy-handed and smug, with the game literally telling you 'you made a wrong choice, make better choices in the future'.
I'm sure it's a parody, but a well-made simulation of an annoying thing is still an annoying thing.
Otherwise the writing is sharp and word choices and images are clever.
Message-wise, I think the concept of humanity eating bugs is just fine; I love shrimp, and shrimp is more revolting-looking than other insects. But it helps that I was fed shrimp at an early age; I got used to it, and I'm not used to bugs.
Overall interesting, but, to me, too successful at imitating an annoying person.
Let's start our first bug restaurant!, April 15, 2022GOOD GRUB!
A short game about researching an insect restaurant. You can success, you can fail but you will have to play this several games and you will enjoy it.
Short, strategic, replayable, addictive.
Jade.
1 of
1 people found the following review helpful:
Yummy yummy yummy I've got bugs in my tummy, April 8, 2022A micro-twine about establishing a restaurant that serves insect-based food. Really funny, well-written and entertaining, and very educational! The kind of twine game you'll want to replay multiple times to read the results of the obviously silly choices.
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