Hungry Shark - Part 3 Review

By , on February 16, 2011


Hungry Shark - Part 3
Download on the AppStore
4 out of 5

PROS

  • Detailed rendered-down 3D sprites.
  • Fluid controls for tilt or touch.
  • Diverse areas to explore; from oil-rigs to underground secret lairs.

CONS

  • Limited combat variation; often boils down to dashing from behind.
  • Leaping out of the water not as intuitive as the first title.

VERDICT

Hungry Shark - Part 3 adds to the 'make your own adventure' style of exploration of the first title by providing some truly unique and amusing areas to explore.


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Future Games of London have placed Hungry Shark back up for a third spin on the App Store and for those already familiar with this vicious free-roaming title you now have a chance to take on an evil genius in his secret lair.

Where the first release had its moments of fun, it was ultimately fairly short and limited in its scope. Part 3 goes a long way to resolve this problem by providing a much larger area to play with and challenging obstacles to overcome in order to get there.

Controlling your shark can take some getting used to as small quirks in the game's physics can result in sliding around the screen while attempting to eat creatures or perform other actions, but it doesn't take long to master the tilt or touch based controls. Learning how to attack different groups of creatures is far more important to your survival as your shark needs constant feeding, with the health bar indicating how 'hungry' he is. Being damaged or eating the wrong kinds of food will put you ever closer to the brink of a game-over, but there's usually a bounty of food nearby to keep you going.

The rendered down 3D sprite visuals have made a return in the sequel, but there's certainly nothing to complain about as it remains just as slick on fourth generation devices today. These clear visuals make it easy to keep track of where you are and where you've been, making the game's additional objectives (such as finding 'lost' objects) a snap once you've already found them.

While much of Hungry Shark - Part 3 remains the same as the original game, its exploration based gameplay is enhanced by the varied objectives and larger world. Attempting to master this game isn't easy and it's this challenge that gives it an edge over its predecessors.

Screenshots

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