Cannibal Tycoon

From TSade

Cannibal Tycoon is probably one of the more unique concepts that I have ever seen. It is nice to see a computer game that caters to less-than-mainstream interests, in this case cannibalism. The cannibalism in this game is soft-core, there is no blood or gore. This follows much of CannToon's style at this point and makes the game more palatable for those who are adverse to gore.

The game costs 25.95 USD from the website. The game comes in a 40 MB executable. The installer is fairly obvious and it doesn't appear that the program puts files into any strange places.

I would say my first drawback is the fact the game doesn't run on a Macintosh or on Linux. While Windows still remains the primary platform for most players, it would have been nice to see the game running on the alternative platforms. If a sequel comes out, I hope it uses SDL or some other library that allows multiple platforms. Also preferences would have been nice. The game doesn't remember if it was played in full-screen mode or not; this became more important when I actually got it almost running in Linux. A command-line interface would have also been nice.

On Windows, the game ran very well on a 2 GHz machine without problems. I don't know the exact limitations of the program but I felt it was quite zippy and the response was excellent except for the loading screens.

[edit] Premise

The premise of the game is that your tribe of cannibal women need to be fed. You, as their cook, needs to capture the semi-helpless white women that wander around the jungles without guns or knives. Once caught, you have to prepare them in interesting manners before feeding them to the tribe. To add some complexity, the tribe is very hungry and if you take too long, they grab one of their own and have them instead. This limits the game since you only have three "tribe members" who can be eaten before you, as the cook, is enjoyed as the fourth meal.

Preparation includes spanking and tickling girls before dipping them into a pot for cooking. As a cook, you get paid for your meals and can afford more objects to help cooking, such as a spit or an apple. Naturally, there is a carrot for the girl's bum.

[edit] Game Play

The game is broken into three parts: capture, preparation, and purchase. The first two parts are a mini-game in their own, while the purchase component is rather simplistic. In fact, there are only four objects that the player can purchase: an apple, a carrot, salt, and the spit.

[edit] Capture the Girl

The capture part is the most frustrating part of the game. The board is a large jungle scene with trees in the middle. It is about twice as large as the screen in width and half again in height. As you move the mouse toward the edge, it scrolls. The purpose of the game is to capture women and this consists of clicking on one of two different girls that just meander through the jungle. When you click on them, they fall down and are captured. Each round of the game, it gets harder and harder to capture a girl. They hide behind trees, which you can't click through, and it takes more and more "hits" to capture the girl. They also seem to move faster.

This part of the game is difficult to play on a laptop. With the scrolling and the multiple clicking, it makes it slightly more difficult and I rarely got beyond the third round. With a mouse, it was much easier. If the screen only scrolled in one direction (horizontal or vertical), it would have been easier to play the game.

The choices of girls are a blond and a brown-haired girl. Once they are captured, there is a cut-scene of them being surrounded by the cannibal women and then their clothes burst off as they are tossed into a cage. It would have been neater if you didn't see the stripping and just saw random clothes flying into the air since the next thing you see is a "Loading" screen. Tying that into the stripping would have been a nice touch.

[edit] Preparation

The bulk of the game is the preparation. Like in the capture phase of the game, there is a countdown bar that shows the hunger level of the cannibal women. The scene has a bench in the middle and a pot on the right. In the game, you pick up the girl, drop her either on the pot or the bench. In the pot, she wiggles around and whimpers and makes cute little noises. You can't do much more than that except stuff an apple in her mouth or poke her. Once in the pot, a button for feeding the cannibal women appears.

The bench, on the other hand, has more options. You can spank the girl, she makes little noises as you do. If you have salt, you can salt her. Some of the attention to details are nice, including sneezing when you salt her. You can also spank ("tenderize") her in various places. If you have a carrot, you can guide it into her ass. Depending on the girl, they stick their ass up for the carrot and seem to enjoy it. The same happens with the spit.

Speaking of the spit, when you use it, the pot turns into a roasting pit. There is also a sexual tension when the spit is inserted and it doesn't seem to be painful for the girl. That fits with CannToon's no-gore style.

[edit] Score

Once the food is served, there is a little cut scene as the girl is presented to you. The position changes, but I couldn't figure out if it is random or based on the quality. In all cases, it is obvious that the girl is still alive for the next, and final part for her. Once consumed, the cook is paid for based on the quality of the work. Quality is based on how you prepare the girl. If you just drop her in the pot then serve her, the tribe is not fed that much and you don't get as much money. The more you tenderize, use salt, carrots, and the like, the more money you get.

At the end of the game, your score is based on the money you have earned. Sadly, I never even remotely got close to the top. I seem to recall a hint of "extras" based on the game, but I never encountered them.

[edit] Artwork

The artwork for the game is representative of CannToon's artwork. The girls are lush and detailed. They are obviously based on a three-dimensional model, but there is also additional post-processing work to give her more emotions or to add details. This multiple-layer approach is distinctive and creates a very lovely view. Even the cannibal girls are portrayed in this manner, which really adds to the scene. The rest of the artwork is less detailed, but the capture phase has some nice trees. There is also a crypt and altar that I keep hoping has something special with them, but I haven't found it.

One of the issues I had was the movement of the girls. In the capture scene, it was fine, but I would have liked to see a little less repetitive motion in the cage or pot, or on the bench. In addition, a little bit more animation in the presentation phase would have been really nice.

[edit] The Main Menu

There were a few additional things I didn't care for. There is no save game feature. Also, I couldn't figure out how to return to the game when I accidentally went to the menu. It could have been me, but I accidentally hit buttons frequently.

The game also felt limited. After the first couple of hours, it seemed like I reached the ends of the game. There were only two girls and two ways to prepare them. I couldn't quite figure out which methods were the best (gained the most money) method. Also, it got very difficult to capture the girls which made it even more difficult. But, beyond the limits of the game, I really wish it had more to it.

[edit] Conclusion

The cannibal game market is very small, I know of very little games that do that. So, in that aspect, this game helps define the market and will probably direct the future games. I would like to see the figures less wooden, moving around more than in the game. The game itself was very enjoyable to play, but like popcorn, I quickly reached the point where it didn't seem new.

Even with these quirks, I still enjoyed the game immensely and would not hesitate to purchase another game by CannToon. There is great potential in this game and the artwork is beautiful. I would have easily paid for the game and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys cannibalism and games. For me, it is the lush images by CannToon and the girl's adorable sounds that will bring me back.