We’ve all come across that one snobby kid during our childhood days who just couldn’t seem to simmer down, and always quarrelled with people when they didn’t get their way. Their incessant nagging just made you want to pull your hair out, or worse, just put some tape over their mouths. Boo! Greedy Kid is much like that bratty child but you’re the one controlling him this time around, tormenting souls just for the fun of it. It’s an arcade puzzle title that pokes fun at just how irritating children can be when they don’t get their way, It’s incredibly comical because in a way, you wish you were that kid back in your days. He’s the type of kid you’d see at the grocery store with his mother and when he couldn’t get those packs of Fruit by the Foot, he’d start yelling until his mother could bear no more. Well in Boo! Greedy Kid you pretty much do just that, yell at people in hopes that they drop some money for you to buy some precious soda with. It’s by no means an easy task to get away with your childish antics but when you do, boy does the reward feel ever so good!

The name Boo! Greedy Kid sounds like a combination of a horror game meets comedy and in a way, the horror is that these old folk just can’t bear the screaming. You laugh at their misery as you collect all the money from them collapsing in pain, but things get serious when you have to run away from the guards who try to maintain peace. If you get caught you just might get tazed or hit over the head with a baton, which in turn makes you lose all that precious money. It becomes a game of cat and mouse as you try to avoid being caught by the guards while strategically trying to take out every person in the room before you can escape.

The gameplay is just as we explained earlier in that, your main goal is to try and shock as many people in the vicinity and collect as much coin as you can to buy your favorite soft drink. However like any puzzle game, the further you progress, the more challenging each room becomes. The first few stages act as training guides to help you get used to the controls and your overall objective, but once you get into the high 20’s and 30’s, that’s when things get quite hectic. A careful strategy needs to be implemented to ensure you don’t get smacked on the head as some doors lead to guards, while others lead to your victims. You need to be so wary of the patterns of each character on the level so that way you can be better prepared to avoid any unnecessary scenarios. Luckily, you’re able to hide behind objects which are scattered throughout each stage and so, it becomes your responsibility to figure out how to effectively use each hiding spot to capitalize on your advances.

There’s a timer above your head to let you know how fast you’re able to clear rooms, while being rewarded with more stars if you’re able to successfully complete a level quickly, along with not losing any of your hearts along the way. Easier said than done of course, especially in the later half of the game where every decision is critical. You laugh at all the randomness that happens on screen but there’s still this requirement of focus because you don’t want to make any mistakes that could cost you down the road. Do I go for the old lady first, or attack the guy in the wheelchair for the advantage? All of these questions start to pop up in your head because each character will respond differently to your screams. For example, the man in the wheelchair can move relatively quicker than the grandmother, while the grandmother can move faster than the man with a cane. Then you have nurses who can also revive these characters and so now, your focus starts to turn towards the nurses to eliminate them from the picture. Each character also has a certain amount of screams that you’ll need to do in order to take them out, so taking that into consideration is important too.

Ultimately, in Boo! Greedy Kid, your goal is survive at all costs and use whatever hiding spot you can to get the upper hand over guards, and set up clever plays to take out more than one character without alerting anyone. With 100 levels to get through and each floor progressively increasing in difficulty, you yourself start to transform into this child, screaming at every moment you get tazed by the guards. It’s not extremely raging but it’s definitely irritating at times when things don’t always go your way and you lose all the hard earned cash. Nobody ever stays in place and so your plan of action will always need to change. One minute the old man you’re chasing down the hall suddenly opens another door and you’re face to face with a guard down the hall. Or you’ve just knocked out the wheelchair guy down stairs and make your way upstairs, but then you see the nurse making her way towards the victim to heal, so you hastily run back to take her out too. There’s never a guaranteed approach and so everything needs to be assessed.

In the end, Boo! Greedy Kid is truly a fun ordeal and as you get further into the game the challenges become even more satisfying. When you’re able to clear a room and avoid the guards, you can’t help but smile. However when things go array you start to get salty and that’s really the charm about the game. You’ll find yourself coming back each time to better your old score from before, and see just how fast you can pull things off. Puzzle games are always rewarding in that regard because it acts as a motivator to keep you playing, in hopes that someday you’ll be able to get stronger with each opportunity. Our only gripe with Boo! Greedy Kid is that it lacks any prominent features like an online mode to compete for rankings, or even like a split-screen co-op would’ve made things interesting. Sadly you only get the main campaign and Steam Workshop, with the latter allowing you to create your own levels for others to complete. Perhaps if you’re into level editing then the Steam Workshop may be of great benefit, but for those who don’t really care much for it then the game kind of lacks in that regard.

We hope you found this review to be insightful and resourceful in order to make your purchase decision a lot easier. We had a lot of fun with Boo! Greedy Kid and we’re sure you will too if you’re into a challenging and funny puzzle experience. It’s by no means perfect but it sure will keep you busy for a while, especially when you try to beat your old times. Be sure to follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest gaming news and more, along with Twitch to know when we go live!

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