Game Reviews

Got Cow?

Star onStar onStar onStar offStar off
|
iOS
| Got Cow?
Get
Got Cow?
|
iOS
| Got Cow?

What came first: the chicken or the egg? Feathers or flight? Angry Birds Space or Got Cow??

It's not clear which developer drew up its planning docs first, but Lifeboat Studios's iOS effort is so similar to Angry Birds Space that you half expect it to come with its own plush toy and lunch box.

Instead of firing birds at piggies and negotiating orbits, you're firing missiles from a cow (god knows why) to take out aliens while, yes, negotiating orbits.

The orbital physics that have made Angry Birds Space feel like the sequel many weren't expecting are here in almost identical form, right down to the fuzzy circular outlines and twinkly stars in the background.

Space Jam

And, like Rovio's game, Got Cow? is frustratingly difficult. Unless you happen to have the mental capacity to work out interlocking orbital trajectories on the fly, most of the levels will involve a lot of trial-and-error and hoping that you hit the aliens instead of crashing into a cow for an 'hilarious' 'cowlatteral damage' fail state.

In Angry Birds Space the relentless conveyer belt of new ideas and physics-driven laughs make up for a bit of trial-and-error repetition.

Getting three stars in one of Got Cow?'s levels, on the other hand, involves little more than memorising where that final successful missile launched, restarting the level, and copying your winning effort. At times it can feel like the video gaming equivalent of doing lines at breaktime.

Don't Have A Cow

It's hard to recommend Got Cow?, not because it's a bad game but because it's just so similar to Angry Birds Space - just without the same level of creativity.

It lacks that game's guile, humour, and variety, and brings very few new ideas - like the trajectory-ruining black holes and the mindbending teleportation warps - to keep you interested. And even they lose their appeal way too quickly.

We'll probably never know who came up with the idea first or whether the arrival of the two games is an instance of parallel thinking, but that's not important - what matters is that Rovio's trip in and out of orbit is an excellent game, and Got Cow? is merely a good one.

Got Cow?

Got Cow? is a clever and bracingly difficult physics-puzzler that's been pipped to the post by a more famous rival
Score