Price: $0.99   Score: 4/10    Category: Games

MyFatPig may have started as an attempt at innovating eCommerce, but its execution is terribly misaligned. The game itself is based on the simple premise of stealing a farmer’s fruits and vegetables, but the real purpose of MyFatPig is to bring people to an overpriced eCommerce site called Worldwide Products LLC. If all that sounds confusing, let me explain. At the end of the day their approach is quite simple.

When gamers download MyFatPig from the app store they dive directly into a game of pig versus farmer. Semi-cute beats lure the pig character into a rectangular field full of corn, peppers, watermelon, and tomatoes. This is the pig’s feeding ground.

When each field level beings, a timer is set along with a goal for how much your pig should be able to collect. Gamers tap anywhere on the field to move the pig to that spot, and then double tap on fruits or veggies to eat that square patch of field. When a square patch is eaten, a silver or gold coin appears somewhere else on the field. This is MyFatPig’s currency, and so as the pig eats, it must also gather the coins produced by its feeding.

The only problem is that there’s a farmer who doesn’t want pigs eating the fruits of his work. This farmer marches back and forth on the field carrying a pitch fork and stopping periodically to scope his field. If he spots your pig he’ll yell (annoyingly I might add) and then chase after you a few seconds until you run away.

If the farmer hits you with his pitchfork your pig squeals and five coins are removed from your collection. You also lose a heart, which brings your pig near its death. Other obstacles in the game also reduce the pig’s chance of living, like eating peppers that are the wrong color, bouncing off fences, or getting spooked and literally losing control for seconds when you get within two squares of a scarecrow.

All these introductions may sound like they add variety and excitement to MyFatPig, but really the game is about as repetitive and tedious as I’ve ever seen. The levels don’t get difficult until about level 9, and at that point the only reason why your pig starts to lose its life is because those darn scarecrows take complete control out of your hands for seconds at a time.

At the end of each level (which averages about two minutes each), the pig has collected a certain number of coins which can either be gambled at a risk or deposited straight into the bank. The gambling process is literally two static screens, which means it’s not that exciting, but the option exists for those who choose to take advantage.

Coins collected at the bank go toward a “convert to coupon” fund that matures at 1,000 coins. The first 1,000 coins didn’t count for anything (except that I had to give Worldwide Products LLC my email address in order to earn poins in the future), but after that first 1,000 hits the ether, you can start earning a coupon.

Although points are simple to acquire, I struggled to force myself to play MyFatPig long enough to find out if this so called discount might be worth it to our loyal readers. As it turns out, 1,000 more coins earned me a 10% discount in the store (sent via email code). This sounds great, and potentially worthwhile, but the second you look at the prices at MyFatPig/Worldwide Products, the whole thing feels a little bit like a scam.

The coupon expires after five days, but to make matter worse, the prices at the eCommerce site are wildly inflated. The Kinect sensor, for example, is listed at $184.39. Take two seconds to search on Google though, and you’ll find a brand new sensor at $130 to $150. Even after that laborious boring pig coin collecting, MyFatPig’s 10% discount still means shoppers will pay more at Worldwide Products.

I tried the same comparison on other items and found the discrepancy to be less glaring. In some cases the prices clocked in at about average and the selection is plentiful. At the end of the day though, I’d rather earn a few bucks working than toil away at MyFatPig. Others may beg to differ, but my gut says stay away.

Bottom Line: MyFatPig is a ploy disguised as a game. The developers give discounts on products based on game performance, but I’d rather fill out captchas than play this game, and even after the discount everything is overpriced.