The games are focused on the evolution of an array of characters, notably the prototype bathroom cleaner or nanotechnology experiment, the "Grey Goo", which is based off of the hypothetical doomsday scenario of the same name. Each game is divided into levels, following a controllable character that can eat anything smaller than itself, constantly growing in size every time it eats. Levels are grouped into different "chapters" that feature different entities and environments, such as parks, cities, the ocean, outer space, and in some cases different playable characters and storylines. The plot is also serialized through comic strips that appear at the beginning and end of some levels, explaining the background of the protagonists and in some cases connecting different chapters together.
Gameplay
The games stars a cast of protagonists that gradually grow as they eat entities and objects around them. The player controls and navigates the protagonist using their finger, pointing device, or by tilting their screen. The main objective of the games is to grow to a specified size that is tracked on a bar on the top-left corner of the screen. Gaining size is done by eating entities or objects that are smaller than the protagonist by coming into contact with them, and avoiding those that would harm it, which are usually larger. Touching a damaging item or entity removes a small bit of matter from the protagonist. In certain challenge levels, touching a single harmful object results in immediate death. The first two games have timed levels that award medals for being completed quickly.
The plot is shown solely through comic strips at the beginning and end of some levels. The first comic strip shows a scientist telling his assistant about his latest discovery, the Grey Goo, a microscopic bathroom cleaner that can eat anything smaller than itself and grows every time it eats. They place it under a microscope, and the first level begins. After the first two levels of the game, the assistant touches the Grey Goo, who enters his body. The scientist tells his assistant to wash their hands, believing the goo will be destroyed.
The Grey Goo is washed down the drain and lands outside, where it moves to a park and grows in size. It then moves to a picnic table where the scientist and assistant are having lunch. When they discover it, the pair are shocked and throw the Grey Goo into the ocean. The Grey Goo then eats through the ocean before a whale returns them to the city. There, the Grey Goo launches itself into the sky and into orbit. After eating the moon, Earth, and the solar system, the Goo moves on to nearby stars like Alpha Centauri and beyond the Milky Way. However, its mass becomes too great after devouring the fabric of space and time, and it implodes, destroying and recreating the universe.
Levels
Tasty Planet consists of 60 levels, divided into nine chapters: "Labs", "Outside", "Picnic", "Ocean", "Park", "City", "Sky", "Orbit", and "Cosmos".
There is an additional bonus level, titled "Laser Dolphins"; The Grey Goo must avoid and subsequently eat dolphins strapped with laser machines. The level serves as a promotion of another game developed by Dingo Games, Laser Dolphin.[citation needed]
An additional, selectable option from the main menu is the "Endurance" mode, where the player grows much slower.[citation needed]
Just like in the original Tasty Planet game, the plot is shown solely through comic strips at the beginning or end of some levels. The first comic strip shows the scientist from the first game telling his assistant about his new time machine, and also mentioning an accidental discovery, a grey goo, sitting under a beaker, that was created when experimenting with nanotechnology. The assistant thinks the blob looks hungry and gives it some candy, much to the dismay of the scientist who believes it is dangerous and should not be fed.
After the Goo grows, it consumes the time machine and travels to the Cretaceous period, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, and feudal Japan. In the process, it prevents the dinosaurs' extinction and the fall of Rome, and destroys the Great Pyramids.
The scientist by this point has figured out that the Grey Goo has only one jump left, this time to their future, and they must be prepared for it, so he and his assistant preserve their brains so they can survive until the goo appears. They prepare microscopic robots and energy weapons to stop the Goo, but it survives and infinitely consumes the turtles that the universe rests on.
Levels
Tasty Planet: Back For Seconds consists of 48 levels, divided into six chapters: "Modern Era", "Cretaceous Era", "Ancient Egypt", "Ancient Rome", "Feudal Japan", and "Far Future".
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Tasty Blue is the third game in the franchise. It is the first game in the franchise to not be top-down, instead being a side-scroller, and the first not to feature the Grey Goo as the protagonist, though it does make a small cameo as a mascot on a billboard in the game's penultimate comic strip. Set in the ocean, the player navigates one of three aquatic creatures in different marine biomes. The game has 5 difficulties: Very Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Deadly; they determine how much size is deducted from the protagonist should it touch a harmful entity, with harder difficulties deducting more. The "Deadly" mode causes the protagonist to be eaten or destroyed instead of being hurt, triggering an instant game over. An optional feature in the game is "Carnage Mode", which causes blood particles to come out of the protagonist's mouth every time it eats an entity, with the water slowly becoming redder as it eats more.[citation needed]
Plot
Goldy or Goldfish
The Goldfish, also known as "Goldy", is the first character of the game. A child purchases Goldy from a pet store and overfeeds it, ignoring the warning on the aquarium saying "Do not overfeed." The goldfish escapes from its bowl, grows to a massive size, and consume the town the child lives in.
Smiles or Dolphin
The Dolphin, or "Smiles", is the second character of the game. Smiles is forced to work in an abusive aquarium where it is forced to perform dangerous tricks. It overhears a video being watched by a visitor about Goldy, who has become breaking news, which gives the dolphin the idea to escape and eat the aquarium and everything around it as revenge.
Brenda or Nano Shark
The Nano Shark, otherwise known as "Brenda", is the third and final character of the game. She is an artificial shark created by the pair of scientists from the first two games to stop Goldy and Smiles. After successfully stopping the two, Brenda devours the Solar System.
Levels
Tasty Blue consists of 56 levels and 15 bonus levels, divided into three chapters: "Temperate", "Tropical", and "Polar".
Tasty Planet Forever is the fourth game in the franchise, and was released in 2018. It has more than eight playable characters and over 150 levels; some levels are top-down whereas others are side-scrolling. Each chapter features a different storyline and protagonist.
Plot
Parisian Cat
The game begins in a restaurant in Paris, France. Two chefs use a robotic cat to clean the establishment, but it misinterprets its orders to "eat everything" and consumes all of Paris.
Caribbean Octopus
An infant octopus in the Caribbean Sea is sleeping, only to be awoken by an aluminum can that hits its head. It swims to the surface of the sea and, much to its dismay, finds that a city resort on an island has produced a large pile of waste. The octopus starts to eat rubbish, causing it to become larger and eventually consume the resort.
African Rat
In Africa, a foreign stray rat appears among other rats trained to eat old land mines to prevent the deaths of endangered animals. The rat grows as it eats the inhabitants and fauna of the Sahara, along with safari vans, resorts, and planes.
Big City Bee
To prevent the collapse of endangered bee colonies, a genetically engineered bee is kept in a test tube; but a beekeeper raises concerns that the bee grows abnormally large after eating and shows hostility to things smaller than it. During an interview, a man walks by and observes the bee. Shocked at the size of its eyes, the pedestrian snaps the tube, causing the bee to be released. It initially eats nectar before becoming big enough to consume the Earth.
Pacific Basking Shark
In an alternate timeline taking place in 1956, a man in charge of a large fishing business boasts about having killed all basking sharks in the Pacific Ocean. However, one off the coast of British Columbia begins to consume other fish and grow rapidly, then eats scuba divers and log cabins.
Australian Dingo
In the Australian Outback, a stray dingo trained to eat invasive species begins to consume humans and eventually the entire landscape, including tractors, houses, livestock, and crops.
Cyberpunk Penguin
In the future, most of the ice on Earth has melted, resulting in a sea level rise. A group of penguins has been confined to a barren island, while most of humanity has moved to floating islands. One penguin develops the ability to fly and eventually grows big enough to destroy the cities.
Martian Grey Goo
In 2057, the first humans are finally able to land on Mars. However, one of the crew members reports observing "anomalies" in the ice samples he had brought with him. The "anomalies" turn out to be from a grey goo frozen in ice, which is subatomic in size. The goo begins to eat atoms before growing in size to destroy Mars and the observable universe. The universe is revealed to be a singular quark in a much larger universe, allowing for infinite consumption.
References
^"macworld.com/reviews". Macworld: The Macintosh Magazine. 24 (7–12): 48. 2007.
^Reeks, Anne (December 26, 2006). "More to the story than 3 quick games", Houston Chronicle, p. 4.
