Pocket Oinko

This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy had roast beef, this little piggy had none, and this little piggy cried, “Wee wee wee.” all the way into your iPhone!  Pocket Oinko, by Nutomix Interactive,  is your own little piggy friend that’ll keep you company through good days and bad from your iPhone or iPod Touch.  Be a good parent and guide Oinko through his daily routine.  Let him know when it’s time take a bath, go to the bathroom, water his plant, play with his toys, and go to bed.

Everytime you open this game Oinko is in need of something.  If you haven’t opened the app in a while it’s likely Oinko’s mood is less than chipper and you’ll need to act fast to keep him happy.  To make him happy you’ve got to address his needs.  At the top of the screen you’ll see a menu bar that lists how much money you have, Oinko’s mood, a sleep meter, food meter, bathroom meter, bath meter, and water plant meter.  If any of them are near full you need to act fast or Oinko’s mood meter will continue to drop.

You can use your money to buy Oinko food, plants, toys, and games that’ll increase his mood and keep him happy.  As you play Oinko looks at you with his “what should I do next” eyes, and will even tap on the screen to see what you’re up to.  As long as your attentive and stay on top of his needs Oinko will love you forever.

If you start to grow tired of Oinko’s neediness there are two mini games built in to keep you interested; Poke a Piglet and Field Fencer.  In Poke a Piglet you’ve got to tap Oinko with your squeaky hammer when he pops out from hiding.  Oinko’s nemesis Swineko is also in the room and showing his ugly mug.  The object is to tap Oinko over and over for points without being tricked into tapping Swineko.  If you tap Swineko three times the game is over.  Field Fencer is a tit-for-tat strategy game where the object is to fence in more squares of land than Swineko.  This game takes some skill so you’ve got to think a few moves ahead as if you’re playing chess.  It may take you a few times to beat Swineco in this one.  Regardless of which game you play you earn points which translates into cash that you can use to buy stuff for Oinko.  When you’re done playing the mini-games it’s likely that Oinko will need you to take care of some things, so you better be ready for him.

Overall I found Oinko to be an ok game.  I wasn’t really enamored with it like others might be, mainly because I’m not really into these types of games.  One thing I’ll say is that I definitely think that kids and people that play games like Farmville will probably love this game.  I reviewed version 1.3.0 and felt like it needs to have more interactive functionality within the game and more levels to play with.  There are other games that I’ve played that have layer after layer of functionality within a level that are even more interactive.  This is the direction that I’d like to see Pocket Oinko go, which according to the developers notes in the App Store appears to be the case.

Pros:

• It’s fairly addictive
• Has a cute appeal that kids will love
• Built in mini-games add some additional flare

Cons:

• Limited functionality; you can’t pickup Oinko, close the curtains, etc.
• Currently there is only one level (bedroom)

Posted by Ryan Johnson
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