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# Review: Feed Me Oil
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/feed-me-oil/
- Published: 2011-06-24T17:40:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T14:39:53.000Z
- Description: An attempt to review a handheld physics game that attempts to reinvent a proven formula, and succeeds, we guess.
- Author: Filipe Salgado
- Tags: Review, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

Feed. Me. Oil.

I don’t know. Oil. Oil. What goes with oil? Slick. Crude. Save that for the closer. No, don’t save that for the closer. No puns. They are never funny. Maybe I should play it first.

Maybe open with something about hunger? Too abstract. Maybe there’s something with oil. *[Feed Me Oil](http://www.chillingo.com/sku.htm?sid=80172&ref=killscreen.com)* as a metaphor for conspicuous consumption in the first world. Hmm … no, that’s pretentious. All right, let’s skip the opener for now.

Okay, I’ve actually played it now. How do I feel about this game? It’s all right, I guess. Oh, that’s great, yeah, just write 500 words of “it’s alright, I guess” and give it a 70.

Let me get the easy part out of the way. “The objective is to get oil into the designated oil … feeding … area.” (I’ll come back to that.) “You’re given a set of tools—fans, magnets, platforms, to accomplish the task.” (Very *Incredible Machine*. Does that reference date me? People [know what *Incredible Machine* is](http://killscreendaily.com/articles/reviews/review-caseys-contraptions?ref=killscreen.com), right? You know what, forget it; let’s just forget that one.) “New mechanics are introduced every few levels.” (No, that’s way too dry.) “New wrinkles in the formula—” No, cliché. “But *Feed Me Oil* has a lot of tricks up its sleeve.“ All right, I’ll come back to this.

It’s cute, but is it just me, or does it just crib its notes from *World of Goo*? Yeah, the pitch-black oil looks like the Goo from *World of Goo*, and so do the colourful, anthropomorphized landscapes with goofy facial expressions. It’s worth mentioning. Is *World of Goo* a good reference point? But that’s just aesthetics. “But the comparisons to *World of Goo* stop there.”

Why should anybody play *Feed Me Oil*? It pretty much just exists for the type of person who likes this narrow genre. It is not a game that insists on its existing. It is the quiet guy at the party: he does not come to you; you go to him, or your friend says, “Hey, have you met *Feed Me Oil*? We took a few poli-sci courses back in college. Man, those were some crazy days. Hey, do you guys want something? I’m going to make a fridge run.” And in those five minutes you enjoy yourself, but there is nothing revelatory or especially interesting that sticks out. Maybe there’s something there: “*Feed Me Oil* is like that polite, quiet fellow at a party.”

That’s way too dismissive. I mean *Feed Me Oil* is well put-together. It’s not a bad game. There is craft involved. Some of the levels are great; some, less so. It does what it does, really well, and that’s worth noting. But how do I say something is “all right, I guess” in a way that isn’t so utterly lazy, that is competent, and shows a level of craft befitting the game?

Okay, time to write this thing.