PrinceWatercress plays Fast Food

A game where you play as a giant mouth and eat everything but the purple pickles? I'm getting fatter!

This game is as simple as it looks, and I'm surprised there aren't many games out there like it. You control a pair of disembodied lips, complete with a full set of teeth, on an almost completely black screen. His name is Mighty Mouth. Yes, he has a name. (Thanks Kurisu Yamato, who introduced me to this game, by the way) Your mission: eat all the food you can while avoiding the purple pickles. If you eat six purple pickles, the game is over, as signified by "BURP! CLOSED." Yeah, you won't be getting away with that these days, not without some self-righteous person bitching about the content of the game.

All the foods have different point (or calorie) values (Thanks Kurisu Yamato), with the green pickle giving you just 1 point and all the other foods giving you higher point values. Cheeseburgers, pizzas and hot dogs give out the most points. Foods show up in three rows, and there is only one food item per row. When a food item moves to the right end of the row, that row is immediately considered empty by the game and another food item can show up in that row. Once you get past the first stage, the foods will move at various speeds, and knowing where the three rows are is essential. Whenever you see the screen quickly transition to the words "You're getting fatter," you're in the next stage. (Games these days will not be able to get away with that, either.) At that point, press the fire button whenever you're ready and prepare to move around and eat more food. The game gets faster as you progress through the game...and the game gets very fast very quickly. Don't be surprised if you go from purple pickle-free to game over in the span of a few minutes, as this game can get pretty hard with multiple foods flying around at wildly varying speeds.

There is a two-player mode, and you can access it with the game mode switch on the Atari 2600. Speaking of having to press the fire button when you start the next round, if you're playing with two players, the other player plays when you either finish a round or get a game over. When it reverts to the other player, your friend where will be positioned in the exact same spot you were. While this is just a nagging flab at the start of a Fast Food session, it's really annoying when the speed of some of the food gets ridiculously swift, as you'll probably be the indirect cause of your friend getting a game over as soon as the fire button is pressed on the other controller. Either way, lulz will be had.

When you reach an increment of 500 points, you'll get rid of one purple pickle on the top of the screen, effectively giving you an extra life if you've eaten one of them.

Is this worth picking up? Yes. It's a pretty fast-paced game that picks up speed pretty quickly, forcing you to bring your reflexes to a fever pitch shortly after you start the game. The game's also not bad for one of those "who's best at Atari 2600" tournaments in case you have a system and a load of good games. Whether you're a novice or a full-blown game master, this one doesn't disappoint.