We made mention of the Windows Phone 7 game Juice Factory a while back. It's a slice and dice game reminiscent of Fruit Ninja. Your task with the game is to throw your meat cleaver (yes, your slicing fruit with a cleaver) at various arrangements of fruit.
Along the way you'll have barriers, wooden logs and moving walls to contend with. There are over 80 levels to Juice Factory, giving you plenty of playing time. To game modes and an online leaderboard help give the game a competitive edge.
Slicin' and Dicin'
Juice Factory's game story line is that you are an employee at the local juice factory. Your job is to slice up the fruit used to make the juice. The more fruit you slice and dice, the more money you earn and the higher you climb the juice factory corporate ladder.
From the Juice Factory's Main Menu you can launch into the game, practice your clever throwing skills, view the leaderboards, and access the options (Sound Effects and Music controls).
Juice Factory has two game modes, Standard (Get to Work) and Race Mode. The Standard Mode has two, forty-two level chapters; Easy Street and The Rat Race. The Standard Mode is a relaxed paced game where the object is to slice enough fruit to meet the minimum requirements. This will vary but if the yellow light on the Juice-O-Matic hits yellow, your in good shape.
You have a limited number of cleaver throws in each level that will vary from level to level. The more fruit you slice, the higher your earnings and score. If you fail to meet the minimum score, you automatically have the option to try again. When you complete the forty-two levels of each chapter your total score is compiled and you can register it with Juice Factory's online leaderboard.
While Easy Street has a leisurely pace, the Rat Race takes into account how fast you complete the task with regards to scoring. With the Rat Race you have to complete ten levels, slicing all the fruit in each level. You have 100 throws of the cleaver in each level.
Game Play
To throw your cleaver, simply tap and hold the cleaver and slide your finger in the direction you want to throw it in. The further you slide your finger, the more power is applied to the throw.
You can throw the clever off the top of the screen and gravity will eventually bring it back into play. If the clever leaves to the sides, you've lost that throw. Levels progressively get more challenging with obstacles to manuever around, bounce off of as well as wooden obstacle that you can stick your cleaver into.
The levels are challenging in both trying to determine the best course of attack and, at times, determining the timing of the throw when moving obstacles are present.
Juice Factory is ad supported with a banner ad running across the top of the screen. The only problem I had with the banner is that a few times when I stretched my throw too far, my finger touched the banner, sending me to my browser.
Stability wise, Juice Factory ran very smoothly with no glitches or bugs experienced.
Overall Impression
Juice Factory is an enjoyable, addictive game for your Windows Phone. The standard game has two chapters of play that total 84 levels. Add the race mode with two, ten level chapters and there is plenty of game time with Juice Factory.
Even if you blaze through all the levels in record time, the challenge to improve your previous scores seems to pull you back in. While Fruit Ninja is more a game of speed, Juice Factory is more of a game of strategy. Juice Factory goes beyond just slicing and dicing fruit, you have to think your moves out to maximize your slicing and dicing.
The only nit I could find is that at times I accidentally hit the ad banner and blew any momentum I had with the game. Maybe if the banners were at the bottom of the screen it would help avoid the accidental presses. Either that or maybe a pay version that doesn't have the ads?
Regardless, I think if you give Juice Factory a try, you'll find it hard to put downs. Juice Factory is a free game and you can download it here (opens Zune) at the Marketplace.
