Lunchables?  No thanks. Forbidden in the GD house. Yet, in a world filled with virtual violence and mayhem comes a game that asks youngsters to cruelly eat the enemy. Good thing the enemy are evil possessed vegetables. Munchables is for the Wii and it’s from NAMCO/BANDAI which means the game is bound to be clever and quirky, and it is. Starting with the pun-filled intro (alien pirates are empowering veggies to take over the planet Star-Ving) and then the soft-serveseque “plops” that come from the back of your character which the game calls “orbs.” In fact, I’m betting the translation to English has softened a lot of the gastro-humor – would the ESRB give an E-10 because of poop jokes? Maybe.

Anyway the poop jokes are hidden (I know because six-year old GamerBoy didn’t notice a single one.  Just me.  Well, enough about poop.

This game is great. It’s sort of a 3D Pac-Man, only it encourages kids to eat their veggies. Chomper, or one other character, and some kind of Onion guru teaches you to, gluttonously eat veggies. But don’t worry, they’re all bad!  Chomper eats small veggies, grows in size, and then can take on a Bass creature. My favorite of these is a Chocolate puddle and a cluster of grapes. The music is catchy, the gameplay is easy – yet challenging for pre-teens and kids – and maybe your kids will eat their veggies from now on. After all, you never know when they’re going to “go bad” and launch evil plots against us all!

GamerBoy just finished the game – it’s the first one to hold his interest that long – and he (I) couldn’t be prouder.  Muchables from NAMCO is good for you. It’s a game that lives up to its awesome premise!

Tags: Game Reviews