Hunger Games official Facebook game in open beta

Players can hear Rue's lullaby

Off the back of The Hunger Games massive first weekend the official Facebook game The Hunger Games Adventures enters open beta. The game is a typical single player rpg similar to Frontierville where mini missions are combined with general upkeep of your world. After creating an avatar you are assisted by The Hunger Games protagonist Katniss Everdeen who directs you on how to trap animals for meat, make camp and barter with the traders in the Hob. The game is developed by Funtactix who have previously created games for Mission : Impossible and Rango.

What makes The Hunger Games Adventures work is the close textual relationship to the books. The interactions with Katniss and other characters such as Peeta and Prim are prefectly written in character so that by  the time you gain level 3 you are only just beginning to earn Katniss’ grudging respect. The missions have names relating to quotes from the books as well as the film which is a nice touch for fans of the novels – author Suzanne Collins was in on the creative process of the game and this becomes obvious.

Gameplay is not very taxing at the early levels. It generally involve multiple clicks on objects, building tasks and waiting on objects with timed pay-offs such as the well and traps which you are encouraged to build. There are general building missions and also narrative missions, for example having to help feed a starving girl or pull a man from a wrecked house. The world of the books is consistently re-enforced with themes of survival and resourcefulness at the heart of it.

One nice touch is the ability to hear tracks from the film (with the obligatory link to iTunes download) as part of gameplay. In one of the early missions you are asked to explore a new area and listen to a mockingjay sing Rue’s song, which is a sweet moment.

The world map promises to be the first official map of Panem but is not yet functional which means that you can only access certain areas when directed there by a mission. This does limit access to things like ponds, wells, trees and rocks which are required to finish many tasks, and often results in a long wait before you can perform any actions. On multiple occasions I have had to leave the game whilst still having half my energy because there is literally nothing else to do while you wait for timed pay-off objects to become ready.

Overall though the gameplay is easy enough for a younger fan of The Hunger Games whilst also having another layer of contextual interest for older players. It’s difficult to call it addictive, however, when you are so often halted in your tracks with plenty of energy but no actions on which to expend it. The game is still in beta so hopefully feedback will lead to more options for players who are playing the waiting game between tasks.

You can now enter open beta for The Hunger Games Adventures on Facebook. Official Game Site.

Posted by Kirsty Walker on March 30, 2012. Filed under Featured,Games,Headline,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.