Water Cooler Games - Creepy Burger King on Xbox 360

Creepy Burger King on Xbox 360
November 20, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Thanks to Brian over at Kotaku for reminding us that the Burger King Xbox 360 advergame / promo games are now available.

All three feature the creepy King BK mascot. Pocket Bike Racer is a kart-style racing game, Big Bumper is a bumper car game, and Sneak King is a ... strange stealth action game wherein the player sneaks up on unsuspecting people and delivers them lunch. The games cost $3.99 a piece.

One Kotaku commenter notes that they are "worth the price you pay for them," which is to say "they suck for the most part." Another offers positive, short micro-reviews of each, "Maybe my expectation were low, but these games rock!" I haven't picked mine up yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this experiment in high-end "pure" advergaming turned out.

Comments (4) | Post a Comment | TrackBack (0)

Comment from Mariano Suarez Battan on November 21, 2006

I wish the best of lucks to BK on this one.

They have taken a risk and I definitely salute to that.

There's always time to improve in the future.

Cheers!

Comment from Ian Bogost on November 23, 2006

Ok, I got the games! Reviews pending...

Comment from David Clearwater on December 6, 2006

I picked up the games and played around with each. While they have received somewhat favorable reviews from some sources (i.e. from IGN.com), I don't think they are worth 'what you pay for them' (I ended up eating 'dinner' at BK while purchasing them too... bleh ;). Each separate game is little more than a single mini-game as seen in some party-type titles and elements, like the character-creation module, is simply recycled in each one. These games should have been released on a single disc but then, their purpose, is to get people into Burger King and hand over money. There are some interesting design elements but it is hard to decide if these are campy or creepy. The developer has worked on a multitude of games based on film or animation and I suspect they just recycled existing gameplay elements and wrapped them in BK skins. I would suggest to not buy the games, just wait a few weeks until they start showing up in secondhand stores and garage sales.

Comment from andrewstern on September 25, 2007

Here's some more commentary, with a review of the history of advergames:
http://theculturalgutter.com/videogames/do_you_want_fries_with_that_.html

POST A COMMENT

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

TRACKBACKS

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.watercoolergames.org/mt-tback.cgi/673

Links to weblogs that reference Creepy Burger King on Xbox 360 will be listed here.