Back in August, an iPhone game called simply "Squids" charmed me with its adorable, somewhat-anatomically-plausible rendition of my favorite animal. Luckily for my productivity, however, I don't have an iPhone--I have a Nexus One.
Now, six months later, they've ported Squids to Android. And it's free. And everyone's still chirping about how awesome it is. According to Gamasutra,
Set in a colorful underwater kingdom, SQUIDS is a creative RPG with a humorous storyline, gorgeous cartoon artwork, and turn-based battles that pit a team of scrappy Squid heroes against hordes of ooze-infected crabs and shrimp.
So it's not only (somewhat) anatomically accurate, it's even ecologically accurate! It's a totally realistic* face-off between my favorite decapods and, well, the other decapods.
Yes, there are two unrelated groups of animals called "decapods" and yes, it can be confusing. It's because "decapod" just means "ten feet," and no single taxon has a monopoly on that feature. Decapod cephalopods (squids and cuttlefish) are so named in contrast to the octopods. Decapod crustaceans are the lobsters, shrimp, and crabs. Non-decapod crustaceans like krill can have over twenty legs.
And decapod cephalopods loooooove to eat decapod crustaceans. It's like they realized that two groups having the same name is confusing, and are charitably doing their part to remove one of those groups.
I want to support this game. I even feel that I owe it to you, my dear readers, to acquire and experience it, to add depth to my coverage of squid in pop culture.
But I also want to get anything done again ever.
* I'm not so sure about the "ooze". Maybe some kind of rhizocephalan parasite?
