CHENNAI:In videogames, unlike reality, a certain proverb reverses itself. What doesn’t kill you makes you very weak. It reminds me of the countless times when an enemy knocks me out in the battle-royale game PUBG and I crawl desperately towards a teammate who could revive me. But what kills you makes you stronger. You return with a vengeance after every defeat to get the better of the game.
And then there are games like Goat Simulator — where you are immortal in an animal form. Now this is probably the hundredth time I’m referencing Goat Simulator in one of my columns, but this time I have good reason to, I promise! This game is another in a series of huge PC games being converted to an Android format (with PUBG, Fortnite and others releasing this year). Now that it’s out (and for free!) I sincerely believe that GS for phones makes more sense than the same for the PC. I had my doubts when Rockstar converted its hits to be played on android (Including GTA Vice City, San Andreas and Libery City) — did you know Bully’s anniversary edition was out on the Google Playstore? Apart from a few necessary control changes, the game is exactly the same! With phones getting bigger, and getting huger batteries, they’re now doubling up as what used to be Portable PlayStations.
Goat Simulator for phones is a sublime experience. It truly breaks through the bounds of what is normal levels of imagination. I can choose from spider-goat to giraffe-goat and penguin-goat to jump over fences and scare humans. The exploratory map has several elements to explore, and to explode through head-butting. The controls are minimal, and don’t cover the entire screen, so I feel more connected to this goat with its lolling tongue on the tiny phone screen than I ever did with the game on PC. If you are looking for a short break to entertain you with a few laughs, you should try jet-packing over the different maps on the game, make humans run at the sight of a harmless herbivore, and witness unreal game physics which makes you jump 100 feet in the air if you’re hit by a car.