The Munchables (Wii)

Even though Namco became famous through the success of Pac-Man’s dot munching maze game, their 2009 Wii game The Munchables has nothing to do with the iconic character. If anything, the two critters put Pac-Man to shame with how committed they are to eating, the entire game taking the idea of eating as a gameplay mechanic and turning up the dial to a ridiculous degree.

 

First of all, the planet the game takes place on is Star Ving, a place where various islands inhabited by creatures called Munchables have all the food they could ever want thanks to the Legendary Orbs. Oddly enough, these orbs are not orbs but instead are shaped like poop, something the game never directly acknowledges but is definitely aware of based on a few other moments that are clearly meant as potty humor. One day these “orbs” are taken by an invading race of aliens called Tabemon Monsters, and while all seems lost at first, it just so happens these aliens are all shaped like fruits, vegetables, and other foods. Then the Great Elder (who has an onion for a head) goes looking for someone to help turn back the invasion and reclaim the not-so-round orbs, he doesn’t have to look far, as two Munchables were eager to help the moment they saw what the aliens looked like. Playing as either the red monster Chomper or the cute pink critter Munchy and free to swap between them after each level, you’ll need to eat whatever enemies are in your path to save this food-centric world from starvation.

 

Naturally, your main concern when you enter a level in The Munchables is eating the enemy aliens you come across, the process as simple as approaching the Tabemon you want to eat. Many of them will be wandering around almost harmlessly, but if you find one that’s too big to eat, there are two ways to overcome this problem. The first is to continue eating other aliens, your Munchable growing gradually in size the more enemies they eat. Your size is indicated quite clearly by way of a level up system, enemies who are too large to eat having their own high level displayed so you know the threshold you’ll need to reach before you can consume them. The max level is different in each level as is the starting level, and your Munchable will undergo a few physical changes to help better show off its growing power. However, in many stages and situations you might not be able to reach the level required to gobble up a Tabemon you come across, and that’s where your attack comes in. If you charge into a baddie, they can split into multiple smaller forms of themselves, the player able to consume the tinier versions before they can form back up into the full size version. Some are so big you might need to split them up a few times, but there are power ups in levels that can help a little with speeding up the process such as ones that stun nearby enemies or make the splitting process easier and quicker.

If an enemy does have some means of attack, they’re usually not much of a concern, even if they’re a boss who spends most of the fight trying to hit you. This is mostly because of the questionable design choice of having there be no health meter, the Munchable instead shrinking down and needing to avoid trouble for a while to recover back to fighting shape. If something does hit you, it’s almost always pretty easy to scramble away and recover, especially since the bad guys have pretty low aggression or easily identified attacks. Consequently, this does mean a lot of levels put up very little resistance to your eating spree, most of the challenge being about finding the right Tabemon monsters to eat as you progressively grow in level. Instead, the stages often carry the burden of making the action a bit more interesting, and The Munchables does at least keep trying new gimmicks for navigation throughout.

 

The stages in The Munchables vary depending on the island you’re visiting, each one having a pronounced theme for its small selection of levels. The haunted house levels do a good job of mixing up how your approach a stage’s design, the places almost mazelike and requiring you to find out how to get through a locked door or access an area before you can progress. A sky level involves alternating cloud positions to get around, there’s an underwater level about dropping down to lower and lower areas, and one area can be navigated by biting onto vines to hurl yourself to different parts of the stage. The goal for completing the level changes between stages as well, many tied to reaching a certain area or eating the biggest enemy but the process of reaching those points changing around just enough that these don’t feel like the same exact generic templates being recycled. The variety in stage design is there, but the core task just isn’t being pushed properly to take advantage of the different gimmicks. You’re almost always just chomping up what you find or bashing an alien to smaller pieces to eat them up, and while that does have some degree of appeal due to its simplicity, it’s far too easy to really hook the player.

The game does try to spice up the action by including extra objectives in levels. Acorns are hidden around each level and you’ll be graded on your size after each level, the player unlocking accessories for their Munchable by doing well enough and able to view all the strange aliens they ate in a selection screen. Exploring levels isn’t very deep though, most using their space pretty well and only including small areas that deviate from the main paths to hide acorns and extra enemies to eat. Your control method is also a little awkward even though it’s not too annoying, jumping tied to a flick of the Wii remote that feels like a pointless complication of navigation even though the A button isn’t tied to anything vital. I guess it’s fortunate that The Munchables didn’t overly embrace motion controls, because it’s straightforward design is one of its more effective aspects.

 

You will need to solve some navigation puzzles and work your way through some levels carefully, but for the most part, The Munchables benefits from its simplicity. Even when you’re fighting a gooey chocolate monster or massive grape bundle as bosses, the game stays light-hearted and easy, meaning it’s a pretty good pick for players of different skill levels. It’s not so bare that an experienced player will find it dull, but it’s not so complicated that a younger casual gamer would be excluded by the video game’s structure. It’s fairly shallow because its mix ups to the gameplay aren’t able to challenge the player in any intricate way, but that steady progression by eating tons of cute and colorful food monsters hits on a sort of primal satisfaction that means the repetition inherent in the gameplay style doesn’t completely drag this short game down.

THE VERDICT: The Munchables’s core play of eating up food-shaped aliens is undeniably easy and pretty repetitive, but it keeps from going completely stale with enough level gimmicks to sustain the short experience. Optional goals and the steady growth of your character within a stage as it gobbles up more enemies are a simple motivator that allows the game to remain decent even though level navigation and combat are often straightforward. Cutesy visuals, minor gameplay twists, and just enough creativity to this heavily food-focused title means it’s hard to dislike The Munchables, but the same accessible design that makes it friendly to children means it isn’t meaty enough to satisfy a gamer hungry for something truly engaging.

 

And so, I give The Munchables for Wii…

An OKAY rating. I’ve been undeniably harsh to games targeted towards younger players before, and that’s because games like The Munchables are a much better fit for them than something too simple and condescending to stand as a decent example of game design. The Munchables is very simple to understand and play, but it still makes sure to present new situations that mix things up just enough that the game doesn’t get stale. It follows a fairly typical gameplay structure of a few levels and then a boss, it visualizes your progress in eating enemies well, and it does have moments like the bigger enemies and small puzzles that ask for a bit more than just walking your way to the end of a stage. The optional goals would have been where The Munchables could have still engaged older and more experienced players but those don’t ask for enough from them to make that side activity challenging, but the core game still has a lot of silly charm and decent design that it doesn’t fall into a rut.

 

Much like Pac-Man provided simple satisfaction with his pellet gobbling game, The Munchables keeps its head above water by making sure that eating the alien enemies hits just enough of the right notes that it never gets dull. Most of the game’s variety does stem from design choices that don’t require a great degree of skill to overcome or ask for a major change to how they approach the action, but this broadens its appeal and makes it a fine choice for younger players. Like fast food it quickly provides you a decent level of satisfaction with little investment, so despite its easy levels and repetitive gameplay, The Munchables still comes out alright.