Foodie Yama app review: a fun Timberman clone

Introduction

Foodie Yama by developer Happymagenta certainly takes a few pages out of the book that Timberman wrote, but never really does it in such a way that it is too blatant. This game, developed for both iPad and iPhone, does take its most important page from this book, which is the simple gameplay mechanic. My point here is that we have a saying for this in Dutch, which is “Better stolen in a good way than thought of in a bad way.” This boils down to the fact that I would rather play a game that is very similar but has quality, than play a really bad original game. Foodie Yama weighs in at just over 20 MB and is playable for free and offline.

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Gameplay

As mentioned before, gameplay is almost the only thing that the game steals from the great game called Timberman. You simply tap left or right on your screen to make the creature, Yama, eat another piece of fruit (or candy, for big points!). You will have to make sure you eat enough fruit to keep your character happy, or else you will die. You will also have to avoid blades sticking out of the walls. You will have to think fast as this game speeds up a lot quicker than its wood-chopping counterpart. This game goes from top to bottom as well, instead of the other way around, making this game a lot different in a perception kind of way, especially hard for people who played Timberman.

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Graphics and Sound

Where Timberman used a distinct 8-bit look, Foodie Yama tries to go one generation up with a tad bit sharper and less retro graphics. This actually fits the game very well and the graphics are reminiscent of Cut the Rope more than anything else. The sound is pretty nice as well, but doesn’t really add that much to the gameplay. There is another thing I want to mention. The game has a restricted amount of plays and after you get really addicted you will have to pay for extra plays or wait. This is a huge downside and I would recommend Timberman above this.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Fun to play
• Really addictive

Cons

• A pay to play mechanic after a while
• Still a clone

Conclusion

If I have to make a call here, I would recommend you would download Timberman above this game. There are a few reasons: first of all, I think that the developer of Timberman, who came up with this gameplay idea, deserves your download more than anyone else. Secondly, I don’t like the pay-to-play mechanic as the whole idea of this game is that you will play time after time after time until your thumbs fall off. Having to pay for this is just plain mean. The app is compatible with both iPad and iPhone and is just over 20 MB.