This review of “Grand Theft Froot” is of the “Enhanced Version” (which replaced the original version), and I’m not sure what changed between the two, but the final product is pretty interesting.
Let’s get the unavoidable and obvious out of the way first: the game is a little rough around the edges at times, and it’s a platformer that doesn’t have the high difficulty or huge innovation of a lot of the excellent platformers on the Xbox Indie Games channel (which, IMO, is now featuring many of the best platformers in the world, with platformers being few and far between at retail these days). But the game still does a lot well, and they’re things you don’t see in every release these days. Things like a storyline that is internally consistent and adds to the experience (and may perhaps have been inspired by the Oddworld games, perhaps indirectly, unless I miss my guess, with a corporation gone horribly awry), and one that unfolds as you play quite naturally since the character you’re playing is suffering from amnesia. Things like the need to hack systems. Things like the removal of one-touch kills for every obstacle in the game (“Aban Hawkins & the 1000 SPIKES” this is not). I also like that any level can be played in any order.
One potentially controversial change is the need to charge an energy weapon, you can’t just run around shooting non-stop at full power. In the same way that Halo enhanced the FPS genre by forcing you to choose which weapons to take with you (a staple of the genre now, but at one time you could carry a dozen or more guns with you), Froot is improved by the need to be circumspect about firing. It helps enhance the storyline of you being a hero on a mission, not a trigger happy homicidal maniac.
For 80 Microsoft Points, this game is worth a purchase. There are a lot of secrets to be discovered (some of which can only be accessed if you use the key cards, that you find throughout the game, in the right doors and in the right order). There are monster bios to read, and documents to discover that help you unravel the mysteries of the game.
Here’s what the developer (Frooty Game Studio) has to say about the game:
“Take on the all powerful Advanced Weapons Research Corporation in this twisted, dark story rpg/platformer/adventure mixture. Steal all the Froot, hack through security systems, take out the guards, find all the secrets and most important of all, figure out what is going on! Featuring around four to five hours of gameplay the final ending will blow you away… If you survive…”
Writings of Mass Deduction 