Sawbuck Gamer

Casanova

Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

Casanova is the world’s finest giraffe-kissing simulator.

By Cory Casciato • November 30, 2012

Sawbuck Gamer is our daily review of a free or cheap ($10 or less) game.

I’ve done a lot of killing in my long, storied career as a gamer, but not a lot of kissing. Sure, it crops up on occasion, in a cut scene or as some kind of minor element, but how many games are all kissing, all the time? Casanova is. You play a cutesy male giraffe on the make. Lady giraffes walk toward you at a steady clip. You adjust your neck length to kiss them. Each successful kiss feeds into a combo, scoring higher than the last and resetting when you miss. Miss a kiss and you lose some mojo, represented by a pink bar in the upper right corner of the screen. (Makes sense—going in to kiss someone and whiffing will kill anyone’s confidence.) Along the way, you can grab the occasional power-up to get the ladies to adjust to you, reset your mojo, or just nab a bunch of bonus points. And that’s it. You go until your little bar runs out, then you start again.

With its one-button controls and one-note conceit, Casanova is as simple as they come. That’s to the game’s benefit, though, as its stripped-down approach and adorable graphics mesh into a silly, whimsical experience that’s as refreshing and heartwarming as a stolen kiss.

Share this with your friends and enemies

Write a scintillating comment