Portabliss: Bring Me Sandwiches!! (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Bring Me Sandwiches!!.
If there's one thing that Katamari Damacy has taught us, it's that it's fun to take a small thing and make it bigger. Much, much bigger. Bring Me Sandwiches!! takes advantage of the same concept, except that instead of rolling up balls of junk, you're building the largest sandwiches in the universe.
As Jimmy, lowly employee of a Stuffy's fast food restaurant, players are chosen as the Earth's only great hope during an alien invasion. At the behest of a giant, globular (and gastronomically inclined) alien, you must rush around the planet ... building sandwiches.
The concept of the sandwich is treated rather liberally, as it can literally be made out of anything that will fit between two slices of bread. Sure, you might pile on a few actual food items, but most sandwiches will be filled with things like pigeons, soccer balls, bottles of wine and the occasional person. And, as each sandwich is delivered to your blob-like master, a larger piece of bread is delivered for the next order.
Eventually, our hero is picking up whole buildings. While every level has specific goals to achieve for the highest rating (time, number of spills, points, etc.), I found myself wandering around, stacking on as much stuff as possible just to see how big my sandwich could get. Turns out it can get very, very big.
For the most part, exploring the levels to find sandwich fillings is made easy via the default controls. Movement is controlled by sliding a finger across the bottom lefthand corner. A simple tap on the right side of the screen will make the acne-ridden protagonist jump. After a minute or two it feels completely natural, though I did occasionally find myself stopping suddenly or having trouble with tricky jumps. If the default setup isn't for you, it's easy enough to opt for tilt controls or virtual buttons (left-handed players can even swap the movement and jump controls).
As I said, at the end of the day, the true joy of Bring Me Sandwiches!! is seeing how bizarre your sandwiches become. In later levels, I found myself toting stacks of fire hydrants, cats, cars, wooden crates, opera singers, chefs and, just to top everything off, an entire fast food restaurant. Power-ups can add special attributes to a sandwich as well. Tossing a magnet onto a sandwich will cause it to pull in nearby items. A lighter will allow your sandwich to burn away certain barriers, giving you access to – yup – even more delicious sandwich fixin's.
Building ever-larger sandwiches is surprisingly addicting, and the discrete levels appropriately make Bring Me Sandwiches!! a great gaming snack. Just try not to play it when you're hungry.
Bring Me Sandwiches!! is available on iTunes for $0.99 on iPhone and iPad. We're always looking for new distractions. Want to submit your game for Portabliss consideration? You can reach us at portabliss aat joystiq dawt com.
