If you ever wondered what a hybrid of Pac-Man and Katamari Damacy might look like, then you need look no farther than Bandai-Namco’s newest bizarre action title for the WIi, The Munchables.
In The Munchables, you’re part of a race of fuzzy little critters that inhabits the planet Star Ving, in which said critters do nothing but eat on a series of peaceful islands interconnected by rainbows. You may wonder how critters that do nothing but eat can actually survive in their ecosystem–that’s thanks to the Legendary Orbs, gigantic stone structures that vaguely resemble…pudding? I think that’s pudding. But I’m terrified that it might be something much, much more disgusting. Anyway, the Legendary Orbs generate a nonstop supply of food for the critters on the islands, and all is high-calorie heaven until a race of aliens shows up and steals the Legendary Orbs so that they too can become superpowerful monstrousities. All would be lost until one of the critters notices that, hey…these aliens, these “space pirates” as they’re called…look an awful lot like food. And so, in what may be the single lowest point in interstellar diplomacy since Douglas Adams’ microscopic space fleet was inadvertently swallowed by a small dog, the Star Vingians proceed to eat their invaders.
And that is where you come in. You’ll steer one of two Star Vingians around, eating anything that even vaguely looks edible and occasionally jumping. If you find a food monster that is bigger than your mouth (you can tell by noting the “level” of both your character and the character you’re about to chow down on) you’ll have to attack it first to break it into smallish, bite-sized pieces. Attacking boss characters is slightly more complex than this, however, and requires attacking weak points that will be clearly labelled for you.
As you grow in level, you’ll also PHYSICALLY grow–picture Katamari Damacy in which you don’t push the Katamari, but rather, you ARE the Katamari. The control scheme is very simple, requiring the nunchuk to move your character around and a couple buttons on the Wiimote to perform the rest of your functions. It’s also a fairly fun title. Chowing down on the various enemies and swelling in size is an admittedly visceral thrill, but sometimes, the fun gets a little…strange. See, at the end of every round, all that food you’ve eaten has to go somewhere…and where it goes…well, this is actually really creepy. Your character will execute a one hundred eighty degree turn, visibly strain, and…spew a pile of sparkly multicolored orbs from its lower rear quadrant DIRECTLY onto an elderly onion. Who will in turn seem very happy about this development, and assign you a letter grade based on how deep a pile of sparkly orbs you’ve landed him in.
I thought it was some kind of weird caffeine hallucination the first time I saw it, but then sure enough, the next round I’m burying an elderly onion in a pile of spherical dookie all over again. And he’s happy about it.
This aside, The Munchables is a surprisingly fun title with some decent humor, graphics and gameplay. it may not be a great long-term value but in the short term it almost certainly won’t disappoint. A terrific rental, and possibly even a good buy, The Munchables is plenty tasty.
The original creator of the Star Fox series and founder of Q-Games, Dylan Cuthbert, said in an interview with G4 that he is not interested in making a Star Fox game for the Wii. Cuthbert was responsible for both the original Star Fox and Star Fox Command.
