Over the past few months I’ve seen a glut of cutesy hop-n-bop games come down the pike for the Wii. Fortunately enough, more than a few of those games have been able to back up the bright, cheery rainbow edge with good design and capable gameplay and controls. Now comes along a curious little piece of software from Namco Bandai called The Munchables. The game is named after the inhabitants of the planet Star-Ving (pun). On this world the greatest joy in life is eating – in great quantity. Enter the suped-up alien vegetable pirates known as the Tabemon. Currently they are attacking your villages, and since you’re really just a floating orb with a mouth, the only thing you can think of to do is to eat the invaders. Go figure. Quirky? Yep. Cutesy? Absolutely. Worth your money? Click the link to find out.

The graphics are crisp and clean with eye-catching yet simple textures. An RPG-ish leveling system increases your size so you can take on the games larger enemies. The controls consist of four actions: attack, jump, eat and target lock; it’s a simple setup that’s on par with other games in its genre. The camera has taken on the popular fixed-2D/3D angle which is always welcome when compared to the inconsistency of the free camera design. The option to use the classic, Gamecube or Nunchuck controls adds a bit of diversity for those with a preference (although alternate controls for the Classic Controller would have been nice). Collecting hidden acorns and eating enemies unlock outfits and items to spruce up your character. Certain orbs give special abilities for a limited time – which breaks up the entertaining (yet repetitive) action.

Honestly, beyond these things there isn’t enough here to really hold the interest of a serious gamer. Let’s say one were to look past the super cute yet ultimately uninteresting character design consisting of various vegetables (which may be cool for some but for others – they’re variations of vegetables…whee); there isn’t enough meat in the gameplay to balance things out. Defeating the enemies consist largely of either eating them, breaking off pieces and eating them or finding a weak spot, breaking off pieces and then eating them. Repeat to ad-nauseum.  The unlocked items, while plentiful, are rarely interesting. You only get two characters to choose from which is probably why the aforementioned system feels like a tacked-on afterthought. For a game that’s supposed to draw inspiration from Katamari Damacy and Pac-Man, I expected more in the innovation department.

Overall it’s a split deal with The Munchables. Should you buy this game? Yes – if you’re thirteen years old or less. Its quirky and light hearted nature only provide enough charm for a couple of hours (not that it lasts long beyond). After that it relies on the insane repetitive nature of a younger crowd to carry things through until the end. So if you have kids, make a purchase and try it out when they go to bed. All others proceed with caution.