Feature: Conversion Rate: Sneak King Subscribe to this RSS feed
You have to have an appetite for lousy games to enjoy Sneak King. Do you also have to have an appetite for meat? In the latest edition of Conversion Rate, we see whether this bargain basement game can inspire love for fried beef.
WenD: bean there, done that.
I became a vegetarian in 11th grade after an enlightening Thanksgiving dinner, when I had an eye-opening conversation with the first vegetarian I had ever met. That it took almost two decades to find one was not too surprising, considering I grew up in the beef capital of America.
In Texas, all food is breaded, deep-fried, and at one point said moo. Texans can count on their hamburgers and chicken-fried steaks always being no more than a freeway exit away, served by popular franchises like Whataburger, Carl's Jr, and national classics like McDonald's and Burger King. As a child, all of the fast food meat-eating rhetoric was hard to escape. McDonald's always donated lunch on our field trips, Pizza Hut sponsored our summer reading program, and fast food commercials targeted my Saturday morning cartoons.
The King; rich off your love for meat.
As a vegetarian, I was the prime person selected to assess Burger King's new advergaming title, Sneak King, and its potential impact to convert me from a vegetarian to the Burger Queen. Before coming onto this project, I disliked advertisements in games, movies, and magazines, especially ad content that is disguised as editorial info or educational material. I don't like the idea of children learning to add and subtract McDonald's hamburgers in class. In fact, I don't think anyone should harm their bodies by consuming fast food. In the immortal words of Lloyd Dobler; "I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed." Thankfully, Sneak King is hardly educational. Or processed.
The experiment begins.
When I sat down to review the game I was blown away by the lack of subtlety in the game's advertising message. The Burger King logo and food products are prominently displayed throughout the game. I did find that shit-eating grin on The King a little endearing, so I give BK marketing props on creating a strong brand icon, much like McDonald's did with Ronald McDonald. While the advertising didn't have any impact on a jaded health nut like me, I could see their target audience of children warming up to the likeable King.
While Sneak King's four dollar price tag makes it affordable to a broad audience, however the cost-cutting production value means there are some bugs: like getting trapped behind the lumber yard and having to restart the game. The game itself is initially fun, if only for the kooky king that sneaks around on his tiptoes delivering fast food to his unsuspecting victims. It's nowhere near as deep as other stealth games like Metal Gear Solid or Tenchu, but then again, those had an extra nine at the end of their price tags. After about an hour, the game gets old and the missions are all repetitive.
WenD remains at one with nature
Sneak King is more successful as a marketing device than a video game and as far as fast food propaganda, the game did absolutely zilch to convert me. I still dislike fast food and I have no desire to chomp on deep-fried dead animals. I give the game some credit because it didn't take itself too seriously, was simple to learn and control, and was exceptionally light on the wallet. However, BK will be disappointed to know that the money I save on the game won't be spent on a whopper anytime soon.
