Donut County is the New Katamari Damacy

Katamari Damacy was one of my favorite games from the PS2.  It was such a weird, alien game in which your diminutive hero rolled up cities into large balls and launched them into space.  It sounds horrifying, but the game was so beautiful and colorful that you never took the premise too seriously.  Donut County follows as a sort of spiritual successor but rather than rolling up everyone into a ball, you remotely control a hole that is devouring a small southwestern city.  The game captures that same sense of brightly animated locations that you toss into a pit.  It’s a fun, strange little game that definitely deserves your attention.

Eventually everything sinks. It’s like a metaphor for modern society.

Katamari and Donut County both have some easy to pick up gameplay (and some weird, cute little cutescenes between rounds).  Donut County’s gameplay is super simply, tap the screen and the hole moves that direction.  Unlike Katamari, there’s no time limit and – for the most part – you can’t lose at any point.  Both games have bright and fun graphics, but Donut County actually exceeds Katamari in some ways.  Katamari’s innovative levels (only roll up hot things, try to reach a specific size) often irritated me, while Donut County’s innovative levels are always fun.  In one level, you start spewing smoke and in another you acquire a catapult.  These Donut County is a fun game that is never difficult, making these innovations fun to experience rather than distracting or derailing.

These guys all have cute stories, but – if you’re like me – you’ll want to get back to sinking stuff ASAP.

As with most games on the Iphone, I found myself wishing this experience could last a little longer.  To be clear, I think the 25-ish levels is plenty to justify the price and they provide plenty of variety.  The problem is that the levels are kinda directed (you have to consume small stuff before big stuff), and the lack of flexibility cuts into the replay value.  While I enjoy replaying one of the game’s bite-sized levels, I hope the sequel opens up more diverse paths and options for how to beat these levels.  For a game about donuts, this is a surprisingly linear experience.  But, at $5, I’d argue that it’s definitely an experience worth having.

I’m not sure getting to high ground is going to help you here.

THE BEST PARTS:

The game is fun, novel, funny, and beautiful.  This is definitely a game to show to non-gamers.

THE WORST PARTS:

The game is pretty linear and somewhat brief, but there’s plenty of content to justify the price.

OVERALL: BUY IT

Novel and fun independent games deserve support, and this game is fun and funny enough to be worth a buy.  We need more games like this on the Iphone (and Ipad), so give Donut Country a try.