- Physics-based puzzle game
- Silly narrator
- Lots of food to unlock
Bacon in Zane is a physics-based puzzler with a lot of humour mixed in, where you play as a long, rectangular piece of food, moving around a 'very accurate human body'. You can tap to control all of the different bars on the screen, which move in whatever way they are meant to move. Your goal is to get your piece of food through the human body and out the end of the screen without hitting dead ends or stomach acid.
The narrator will tell you about the human body or about the different foods you find stuck in the body on the way. Though he claims this is all very accurate, it doesn't seem to be! There aren't a bunch of wires controlling my food flow, and food doesn't take this long to get to the stomach.
Beyond the silly voice, Bacon in Zane is an extremely challenging puzzler. I often want to swipe or to tilt my device in order to get my food to the next area, but I cannot. There is a lot of swiping to restart the level, though the voice will also tell you that you are being dumb for swiping while the screen does prompt you to swipe.
If you are unlucky and having a lot of trouble, you can watch two ads to get a cheat that sort of solves the level for you - but often you will need to watch ads anyway if you are failing as much as I am.
Bacon in Zane is a really interesting experience, but it's one that has a lot of challenges and a lot of moments of frustration. When it does flow and goes into the next level, the whole thing feels satisfying, but I found myself frustrated more often than not!
There is a lot of movement with momentum, so you do need to think quickly and make sure that you are reacting as soon as the food goes into the next screen - it's all about processing levels quickly, then making sure your timing is on point.
I do like the number of foods you can find and become in Bacon in Zane - I instantly became a fish stick as soon as I could. These are often hidden away, so you'll need to spy them closely to get them. There is also a treasure hunt in Bacon in Zane, where you could win a painted iPhone - a very interesting marketing stunt.
Bacon in Zane review - "Frustrating or fun?"
Bacon in the Zane is a very challenging, silly, physics-based game that has a lot of charm to it. However, you might want to spring for premium.
Jupiter Hadley
Jupiter is a prolific indie game journalist with a focus on smaller indie gems. She covers thousands of game jams and indie games on her YouTube channel, letting every game have a moment in the spotlight. She runs indiegamejams.com, a calendar of all of the game jams going on in the world, and judges many jams and events. You can find her on Twitter as @Jupiter_Hadley