Annoying Orange: Kitchen Carnage Review: Another win for fruit!

App Name:	Annoying Orange: Kitchen Carnage
Platforms:	iPhone/iPod Touch
Publisher(s):	Bottle Rocket
Version Reviewed:	1.0
Genre(s):	action
Release Date:	April 7, 2011
Price:	$0.99
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Zombies, ninjas, flying fruit . . . There are some themes that the App Store just cannot escape. You’ll probably come to Annoying Orange: Kitchen Carnage with some preconceived notions—based on how you feel about the Dane Boedighimer YouTube series that has seen insane success over the past few years. I’m of the sort that finds the orange’s antics more annoying than hilarious, and I generally avoid adding to the channel’s 500 million views. But even so, I urge anyone who has enjoyed some of the App Store’s many addictive, simple-minded games to give this one a try. It doesn’t really break any new ground, and you might feel dumber when you’re done playing—but it’s one of those games that becomes irresistible once you get a taste of the carnage . . . And hey, you can always mute your iPhone if the annoying orange’s chatter becomes too much to handle.

The game’s setup is as simple as they come. You’re presented with a view of a kitchen scene the moment you hit play, and this is where you’ll be creating all the carnage. My initial thought upon realizing that the game consisted of nothing more than tossing fruit into blenders was that it might be nothing more than a publicity application—short on fun gameplay, and designed just to drive more traffic to the YouTube channel.

. . . But then things heated up—and by that I mean I started leveling up, throwing additional blenders into the mix, grabbing bonus time, and hitting the MEGA BONUS. If it sounds cheesy—and sort of like an iOS carnival game—that’s because it totally is. But that doesn’t stop Kitchen Carnage from being a lot of fun. When it comes to controlling your fruit tosses, it all depends on the length of your swipe on the screen. That’s the motion you’ll be honing as you try to launch apples into the faraway cupboard, or just nudge bananas onto the close-up cutting board. It’s a game of depth and distance, and when combined with the clever score and timing system, the whole thing just works.

Of course, the experience of the game will be largely influenced by your take on the Annoying Orange and his “clever” barbs. Be advised, he will occasionally insult/provoke you, and all you can do in response is try to send more pineapples, strawberries, melons, and bananas to their deaths by blender.

The fun gameplay of Kitchen Carnage is complimented by Game Center integration, as well as the ability to share scores on Facebook or Twitter. Developer Bottle Rocket has also promised that updates are on the way, and additional features and “ways to die” should keep the carnage fresh for quite some time.

There are only a few things going against the first official Annoying Orange app. First, it’s a pretty shallow experience, given that its confined to the kitchen, and the minute-thirty gameplay sessions have little to offer in the way of fresh visual stimulation. Also, you might get frustrated now and then, when pieces of fruit fly distances that seem incongruous with your flinging motion.

But Bottle Rocket has listed “game play balances” in the coming updates, and there is reason to hope that such kinks could be smoothed out soon . . . Overall, 99 cents is not a price you’ll regret paying to add Kitchen Carnage to your library of repetitious, addictive games. It’ll fit alongside Fruit Ninja as a fruit-themed, gratuitous frenzy . . . There’s one last thing that should be said to those who are still on the fence about the whole Annoying Orange Craze—

KNIFE!

Our Score:  4 Out of 5

About the Author

Devin Wieland

 

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