Hunger Games: Girl On Fire (for iPhone)

Commissioned by Lionsgate Studios, Hunger Games: Girl On Fire (free) is essentially a tie-in app to whet your, ahem, hunger, for the recently released movie. Indie developers led by Adam Saltsman (Canabalt) used simple 2D sprites, an odd choice to me, given the story's majestic, post-apocalyptic setting. For a game with little action, it's surprisingly addictive.

You're placed in the shoes of feisty heroine Katniss Everdeen, with bow and arrow in hand, and on a perpetual run through the forests to return home to her District 12. As she runs, poisonous Tracker Jacker wasps start to hover over her. Tap a wasp to shoot it with an arrow, which is only as easy as your screen is responsive. The more wasps you kill, the more menacing they become, eventually ganging up to fire purple venom balls in your direction?you can only overcome these by jumping between the ground and the treetops. Eventually after collecting a certain number of points from killing Tracker Jackers, you'll face the ultimate enemy, the Capitol hovercraft.

Katniss dies when she's shot twice, which happens more often than you'd expect, and then you have to start over from the beginning. It'd certainly be better if you didn't lose all those points, or if it wasn't so easy to die.

For such a lightweight app, the game's audio is surprisingly intense and tribal in nature. This made more sense to me when I read that the score was composed by famed game composer Danny Baranowsky (of Super Meat Boy fame).

From the main menu, you'll also find one-tap access to more Hunger Games love outside the app. You can tap into Fandango or Movietickets.com, watch the trailer, buy the Hunger Games ringtone, play the Hunger Games Adventures Facebook game, purchase the soundtrack, or visit the movie's official website. The app is also part of Apple's social gaming site, Game Center, where you can compare high scores with members around the world.

Hunger Games: Girl On Fire is a simple, addictive way to waste time on a train ride or in line at the movie theaters. It's too bad it doesn't go beyond two levels, however.

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