Chipotle has just come out with a promotional campaign that targets two of my biggest passions – natural food and video games. The video above tells a beautiful story of a scarecrow (Chipotle) who works for “Crow Foods” (industrial farms), a food company that produces highly processed foods containing chickens pumped full of hormones and cows raised in cramped, unnatural conditions. The scarecrow sees the wrong in this and takes it upon himself to bring natural foods back to the people by starting his own farm and selling it in the city, competing directly with the company he formally worked with.
The iOS game puts you back in the scarecrow’s shoes, fighting against Crow Foods. The controls are entirely tilt-based and you need to navigate through each level while avoiding obstacles.
In each level, you need to transport items to your destination, trying not to lose your items by getting hit by an obstacle. Each level has various challenges. In the first level, for example, you need to carry 5 boxes of fresh produce to your destination. Each time you are spotted or get hit by an obstacle, you lose a box. At the hardest difficulty of the first level, you need to get to the end of the level without losing any boxes and within the short time period you’re given.
This game is challenging, but honestly, it isn’t very good. There are only four levels and each level has 4 or 5 challenges, which is really only the same exact challenge, but with increasing difficulty. I became bored of the game real quick.
I liked the little shots the game took at industrial farms and food production companies though. This game has a great message! The one thing I find interesting is that Chipotle would choose to release this when nearly all of their ingredients are GMO.