Episode 21 – The Greatest King Ever

Yesterday I went on a mission. A mission to find one of the 3 Burger King games for the Xbox 360. The first Burger King I went to was a total bust. Nothing. In fact the girl behind the counter had no idea what I was talking about. When I asked about the King games I got a blank stare in return. Then she came back with “what?” What, indeed. I walked out. And she took the next customer.

I walked the almost 30 blocks to the next Burger King. I noticed for the first time that they are far less abundant than McDonalds... as I passed 3 of them between the BK’s. As I passed a subway station a block from the second BK and thought. If this place doesn’t have them I will make my way to the next one… I would make it my mission to secure one, or all, of these King Games.

Luckily, I didn’t have to go searching the city to find them. The second Burger King was adorned with the King and 360 rings, and a big cardboard cutout. I had reached my stop.

From the second I read about the Burger King games I was intrigued. I had fallen in love with the King. He is one creepy guy, but I loved him anyway. From that first commercial where he was in bed with some guy and hands him breakfast, to the one where he goes face to face with Darth Vader. All of them are hilarious, so if he’s in a game, I’m going to be interested. Now fast food and videogames don’t go together in my mind. I especially don’t think of them as a place to purchase video games. Alas, it is now the destination of my trek.

Aside from the commercials being so clever I liked the idea of a simple game for my 360. This could easily have been a Live Arcade title… if it wasn’t for the 56MB restriction (because of memory cards, which I think is bullshit. I’d say 90% of 360 owners have hard drives, lets drop that 56MB restriction). The games are meant to be relaxing, and enjoyable and somewhat funny. They’re very Nintendo, if you ask me, and its something the 360 needs.

So I picked up Sneak King with my Double Whopper Value Meal… that’s right, I went with the double. For a second I contemplated the single, but I knew that couldn’t satisfy my manly appetite.

After playing a solid hour of Sneak King I have determined that for 4 dollars it’s pretty great. There are some issues… the camera went crazy one time when I hid under a truck, and apparently the King cant jump down if its too high off the ground. The biggest problem I ran into was camera control stick. It’s part me and part the fact that it sucks ass because it’s the opposite of every other game I have ever played… but aside from that… well, its pretty fun. And harder than I thought.

So that was yesterday. Today I picked up Pocket Bike Racers (and a chicken nugget 8 piece… yum). This one has probably my favorite commercial, because it mocks every other video game commercial I’ve ever seen. I can see Pocket Bike Racing being a party game even; I’m calling dibs on Hamburger Guy. There are issues but not many, but over all, its pretty fantastic. Think Mario Kart on motorcycles plus Brook Burke and the King. Yes, you can play as Brooke Burke… oh and it has online multiplayer. I’m excited.

Anyway… I would love for there to be more of these games. One can easily see a McDonalds game staring Ronald and pals. Hell, that almost screams make me a game! I’d want to play as Hamburglar, and steal food from the fry guys… anyway, I’m getting off track.

This game could open up the gates for more pop culture based, affordable games. Small games that are enjoyable and cheap. Cheap is the key here, it makes it more impulsive. Could they have packed all these games onto one disc for 20 bucks? Yes. But they wouldn’t have sold as well. Instead for 4 dollars a pop you basically become one advertising executives wet dream. You play as their marketing tool. GENIUS. It’s also much more simple than going online then buying Microsoft Points then finding the game you want, then downloading it, etc. Simple, and Cheap… at this point it doesn’t even matter if the game is good or not. Though, it helps. But here, again, no one is expecting anything amazing, just something halfway decent will do. That’s all I want. Halfway decent.

Is this the epitome of in game advertising? It might be. But if BK is going to put advertising in games, at least they’re making them fun.