GLOBAL – For me, mobile games have to be super simple and Urban Fatburner – available for the Nokia N9 – fits that category perfectly. It’s one of those running-across-the-rooftops games where there’s only one button which makes your character jump.
I think it’s the irony of this title that amuses me so much. It’s a mobile phone game about being an overweight city-dweller who’s running to keep fit. As an overweight city-dweller myself, who should probably be out running rather than messing about with my mobile phone, the situation is just plain silly.
The mechanic is this: you’re a fat guy who’s running across the rooftops. The further you run, the closer you get to your ideal shape. Of course, there are obstacles to your progress. The main one is having to time your jumps perfectly to get from one roof to the next. The secondary problem is that you need to dodge burgers and other city hazards – if you accidentally consume one, it’ll slow you down and fatten you up.
The game type is one we’ve all seen before, but the setting is comic, the graphics are well-drawn and the execution is flawless. It’s a game where you need to abstract yourself from world and get totally into the zone in order to succeed: ideal for killing some time on the way home.
Urban Fat-Burner was developed by Agate Studio. The fastest way to get hold of it is to search for ‘urban’ in the Store on the Nokia N9, but you can also find it on the web store here. It’s free and only takes seconds to download.
And have a look at the rest of our Buy Five: Amy Winehouse, Weave app, Best in the World videos and tracks, and ebook.
