SleazySoft Sharko Video Game Released as Freeware

The addictive fish fighting game created during a weeklong contest has been released in a free final version.

Brooklyn, NY (PRWEB) January 19, 2006 -- SleazySoft (http://www.sleazysoft.com) has released the freeware video game title Sharko (http://sharko.sleazysoft.com). What was originally a quick demo thrown together for a weeklong contest has evolved into an underground cult classic. Sharko is a unique approach to the “biggest fish in the sea” type game. The player’s fish grows very gradually, instead of incrementally, and through the use of bonuses and strategic eating techniques, they can score massive points.

SleazySoft, whose slug line is "games that keep you entertained for minutes," really delivers several minutes of fun with this new take on a classic formula. The player starts off as a tiny fish and has to eat smaller fish until it grows really large. They are rewarded for eating fish quicker through combos and frenzies. Combos will earn them exponentially higher points the more they chain together and frenzies allow their fish to eat any other fish on the screen. Combining these two together earns massive points and sometimes spawns a rare school of bonus fish. While not worth much alone, eating an entire school of bonus fish gives their score an instant jolt.

Players’ scores and playing statistics can be uploaded to a global scoreboard where they can compete against many other addicts. They can compare their stats with other players and view server-wide stats and graphs. While Sharko is being released without any limitations to the game at all, uploading scores is limited to five with one extra upload a day. This limitation is easily removed with a very low cost upgrade to the SleazySoft account used to upload the score. Even though it is reportedly designed to “keep you entertained for minutes,” one player logged over 24 hours of game time, about 3-4 minutes at a time, during the 2005 beta test. The scoreboard has recently been wiped clean of all the beta scores so now is the best time for new players to get involved and compete against the most hardcore of Sharko addicts.

Critics are calling Sharko "beyond simplistic" and "a bit frustrating." Meanwhile, avid players are calling it "insanely addictive" and saying it "will spread like a disease."

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