The Munchables came out of nowhere this past March, just a touch over two months out from its May release, with a high-energy trailer showing some delightfully bizarre cutscenes and intriguing gameplay. The mission: save the world through eating.
Though this game has already been on the market for seven months, it's been a slow percolation into our collections. Since we've both had the chance to enjoy this game thoroughly now, we thought that the best way to share our feelings on it would be to put down our words side-by-side and bring you this co-op review, discussing its merits and drawbacks together.
Amber: If you have played Katamari Damacy, or haven even just seen its way-out-there intro sequence, then The Munchables will have a familiar feel to it. Bright, colorful cartoon imagery, peppy music, and action that moves along without stop. This time around, however, instead of rolling the world up into a ball you start off as a little puppy thing and eat your way into a cute behemoth.
Matt: The mechanics of the game need a little explanation, I think. There are three things you're going for: power, score, and of course, unlockables. Power is the Katamari idea: enemies, taking the form of that need to be eaten will have a certain level that, if it's above yours, will prevent you from eating them. You raise your level by eating creatures at or below your level; the bigger they are, the faster you'll gain levels.
But, unlike Katamari, you also get to break the big guys up into littler guys, temporarily, by attacking them. They'll split up and, if those littler guys are then at a good level for you to munch away, you can move in and chomp them. Going back and forth like that is fun, particularly if you're surrounded by lots of enemies.
Amber: It's a very simple mechanic, but things can get a bit hairy if you're surrounded by enemies too big to consume.
Matt: Particularly if they start attacking you...
Amber: This, actually, is probably the game's biggest fault: it's just too easy. Enemies will sometimes land hits on you, or you can take hits from dangers in the environment, which results in your Munchable shrinking back down to puppy size. During this moment of vulnerability, you have to shake the remote (or jam X, if you're using the Classic Controller) to return to your previous size. Another hit during this period, and you're done. I have never been hit twice, not even close.
Matt: I got hit twice once. I feel appropriate shame. But yes, you're never really in danger.
Amber: *stunned at Matt's incompetence* Really? What happens when you're hit?
Matt: Level's over. That's it.
Amber: Not much of a penalty, really. The levels are designed to be pretty fast paced, ideal for setting up combos which happen when you chain together a lot of meals.
Matt: Right, and that brings us into the second mechanic, the combos. These are for your score, tallied in "meals." Your score doesn't affect your level or ability. It doesn't even give you unlockables if you get a high enough score to get into the S-rank category. But it actually does present an impetus to avoid getting hit at all.
The idea is this: if you can chomp a lot of enemies in quick succession, without pausing too long or chomping empty air too much in-between, you'll rack up combos. When your combo is tallied, you get bonus meals; that's your score. And if you get hit, you'll lose a potentially large number of meals... and that can ruin your chances of getting a great score and that S-rank.
Now, it's not terribly hard to get S-ranks for most of the game... you can generally get hit once or twice without demolishing your score too much. I did the majority of them on my first playthrough. But I still had a lot of fun doing it.
Amber: When you eat enough monsters, your level goes up, you get bigger, and the design of your Munchable also becomes more detailed. I thought that was a nice touch and another impetus to eat as many enemeis as you can, just to see what your critter will look like at the the next size up. Not every part of the game keeps you flying forward though. One speed bump is the acorn hunt. Now, I don't automatically hate every "collect-the-MacGuffin" scheme I run into, and it's pretty painless here so I give it a pass, but I'd still like to see something more original once in a while.
Matt: Of course, it's the only way to get unlockables, isn't it? Apart from the ones you get from clearing boss battles, that is. And clearing the time attacks—some of which are actually somewhat challenging. I was a little disappointed that S-ranks didn't unlock anything.
Amber: Yeah, the unlockables are just accessories you can make decorate your Munchable with but they're still fun. For whatever reason, i liked to have the pink puppy-thing wear a roll of toilet paper on her head.
Matt: *laughs* Yeah, those were fun. I would chase down the acorns just to see what wacky accessory would come up next.
Amber: Considering the candy-coated bathroom humor lying just below the surface of the game, it seemed appropriate.
Matt: I had to tell my wife, "you know, you get scored based on how many marbles you poop out. I don't know if I should share this with my daughter."
Amber: *smiles* But little kids is exactly who this game is aimed at and they'll get a giggle out of the "orbs."
Matt: That's true. I guess I did too. I'm a 32-year-old big kid at heart.
Amber: I played it with my nephews who are around 8 and 12 and I actually had to point this out to them.
Matt: *laughs* There's also the legendary orbs that you have to get back from the bosses. You'll see one in the opening cinematic and on the game's spine...
Amber: A rainbow colored poot.
Matt: Oh, Japan.
Amber: *laughs* Even with all of that said, that game is not crude, it's just very very quirky.
Matt: Yeah, definitely. Speaking of the bosses, I was actually pretty impressed at the variety they managed to crank out even with you only possessing "smash into things" and "eat things" moves. There were a couple retreads, but they did pretty well.
Amber: The bosses are a real highlight. They're impressivly large, not too tough, and fun to wittle down to size.
Matt: Yeah, I hope nobody minds me spoiling the fact that there's a boss rush... but I have to bring it up to say I even enjoyed that bit.
Amber: Well, that's The Munchables in a nutshell. You choose a critter and speed-eat your way through a cartoon landscape. For a veteran gamer it's a great game to play just for fun and relax to. The younger set will find it more of a challenge. It doesn't have any major flaws and looks pretty polished for a budget game.
Matt: And you can get it for around $20 these days. I just saw a copy at a local Best Buy last week.
Amber: Right now we're past the big winter holidays, so take this opportunity to trade in those awful movie license games the kids got stuck with and pick up this little gem of an oddball.
Matt: Definitely worth the price, though. I'm glad that I finally got around to it. There were a lot of good-to-great games on Wii this year, and Munchables was one of the higher tier in my book.
Though this game has already been on the market for seven months, it's been a slow percolation into our collections. Since we've both had the chance to enjoy this game thoroughly now, we thought that the best way to share our feelings on it would be to put down our words side-by-side and bring you this co-op review, discussing its merits and drawbacks together.
Amber: If you have played Katamari Damacy, or haven even just seen its way-out-there intro sequence, then The Munchables will have a familiar feel to it. Bright, colorful cartoon imagery, peppy music, and action that moves along without stop. This time around, however, instead of rolling the world up into a ball you start off as a little puppy thing and eat your way into a cute behemoth.
Matt: The mechanics of the game need a little explanation, I think. There are three things you're going for: power, score, and of course, unlockables. Power is the Katamari idea: enemies, taking the form of that need to be eaten will have a certain level that, if it's above yours, will prevent you from eating them. You raise your level by eating creatures at or below your level; the bigger they are, the faster you'll gain levels.
But, unlike Katamari, you also get to break the big guys up into littler guys, temporarily, by attacking them. They'll split up and, if those littler guys are then at a good level for you to munch away, you can move in and chomp them. Going back and forth like that is fun, particularly if you're surrounded by lots of enemies.
Amber: It's a very simple mechanic, but things can get a bit hairy if you're surrounded by enemies too big to consume.
Matt: Particularly if they start attacking you...
Amber: This, actually, is probably the game's biggest fault: it's just too easy. Enemies will sometimes land hits on you, or you can take hits from dangers in the environment, which results in your Munchable shrinking back down to puppy size. During this moment of vulnerability, you have to shake the remote (or jam X, if you're using the Classic Controller) to return to your previous size. Another hit during this period, and you're done. I have never been hit twice, not even close.
Matt: I got hit twice once. I feel appropriate shame. But yes, you're never really in danger.
Amber: *stunned at Matt's incompetence* Really? What happens when you're hit?
Matt: Level's over. That's it.
Amber: Not much of a penalty, really. The levels are designed to be pretty fast paced, ideal for setting up combos which happen when you chain together a lot of meals.
Matt: Right, and that brings us into the second mechanic, the combos. These are for your score, tallied in "meals." Your score doesn't affect your level or ability. It doesn't even give you unlockables if you get a high enough score to get into the S-rank category. But it actually does present an impetus to avoid getting hit at all.
The idea is this: if you can chomp a lot of enemies in quick succession, without pausing too long or chomping empty air too much in-between, you'll rack up combos. When your combo is tallied, you get bonus meals; that's your score. And if you get hit, you'll lose a potentially large number of meals... and that can ruin your chances of getting a great score and that S-rank.
Now, it's not terribly hard to get S-ranks for most of the game... you can generally get hit once or twice without demolishing your score too much. I did the majority of them on my first playthrough. But I still had a lot of fun doing it.
Amber: When you eat enough monsters, your level goes up, you get bigger, and the design of your Munchable also becomes more detailed. I thought that was a nice touch and another impetus to eat as many enemeis as you can, just to see what your critter will look like at the the next size up. Not every part of the game keeps you flying forward though. One speed bump is the acorn hunt. Now, I don't automatically hate every "collect-the-MacGuffin" scheme I run into, and it's pretty painless here so I give it a pass, but I'd still like to see something more original once in a while.
Matt: Of course, it's the only way to get unlockables, isn't it? Apart from the ones you get from clearing boss battles, that is. And clearing the time attacks—some of which are actually somewhat challenging. I was a little disappointed that S-ranks didn't unlock anything.
Amber: Yeah, the unlockables are just accessories you can make decorate your Munchable with but they're still fun. For whatever reason, i liked to have the pink puppy-thing wear a roll of toilet paper on her head.
Matt: *laughs* Yeah, those were fun. I would chase down the acorns just to see what wacky accessory would come up next.
Amber: Considering the candy-coated bathroom humor lying just below the surface of the game, it seemed appropriate.
Matt: I had to tell my wife, "you know, you get scored based on how many marbles you poop out. I don't know if I should share this with my daughter."
Amber: *smiles* But little kids is exactly who this game is aimed at and they'll get a giggle out of the "orbs."
Matt: That's true. I guess I did too. I'm a 32-year-old big kid at heart.
Amber: I played it with my nephews who are around 8 and 12 and I actually had to point this out to them.
Matt: *laughs* There's also the legendary orbs that you have to get back from the bosses. You'll see one in the opening cinematic and on the game's spine...
Amber: A rainbow colored poot.
Matt: Oh, Japan.
Amber: *laughs* Even with all of that said, that game is not crude, it's just very very quirky.
Matt: Yeah, definitely. Speaking of the bosses, I was actually pretty impressed at the variety they managed to crank out even with you only possessing "smash into things" and "eat things" moves. There were a couple retreads, but they did pretty well.
Amber: The bosses are a real highlight. They're impressivly large, not too tough, and fun to wittle down to size.
Matt: Yeah, I hope nobody minds me spoiling the fact that there's a boss rush... but I have to bring it up to say I even enjoyed that bit.
Amber: Well, that's The Munchables in a nutshell. You choose a critter and speed-eat your way through a cartoon landscape. For a veteran gamer it's a great game to play just for fun and relax to. The younger set will find it more of a challenge. It doesn't have any major flaws and looks pretty polished for a budget game.
Matt: And you can get it for around $20 these days. I just saw a copy at a local Best Buy last week.
Amber: Right now we're past the big winter holidays, so take this opportunity to trade in those awful movie license games the kids got stuck with and pick up this little gem of an oddball.
Matt: Definitely worth the price, though. I'm glad that I finally got around to it. There were a lot of good-to-great games on Wii this year, and Munchables was one of the higher tier in my book.