Crunch. Munch. Barf. Win!
Critter Crunch is the prettiest version of digital puke you'll ever see on your TV. Oh, and it's a pretty rad little puzzler too.
Published: February 3, 2010
As our intrepid fuzzball progresses through the fifteen levels - each of which has regular stages which need to be cleared to advance, a puzzle stage which must be completed with a limited number of moves and a challenge stage which sets arbitrary goals and restrictions - the complexity of the game becomes apparent. Different creatures are revealed: creatures which explode, creatures which refuse to eat, creatures which reduce the hunger bar when in Biggs' mouth, and many more. The player is also presented with myriad powerups and environmental hindrances, each of which forces a subtle yet satisfying change in gameplay style. As a consequence, the game never feels stale. This game knows how to push those "got to keep going buttons", too. The bigger the combo, the higher the score - and the more elaborate the gem which is regurgitated as the last dying act of a pastel-coloured cutie. The on-screen difference between a little hunk of crystal and an ornate golden totem is enough to trigger whichever terrible part of the brain that happens to be responsible for making chimps eschew food in favour of an electric shock, straight to the pleasure centres.
It was at this point in the review that I was going to talk about how the later levels in the game became hard, almost unfairly so. Situations would arise where one wrong move at the start of the level would render it unwinnable and restarting the level a couple of times would be the only way to get an arrangement of creatures that the player could work with. I was going to mention that this incredible spike in difficulty was the only real downside to an otherwise great game. I was going to do this, but last night they patched it. The swine.
The entire final section of my review was instantaneously scuppered by a few measly megabytes: the difficulty was toned down (mark my words, it still gets hard, just not unbeatably so), the ability to play your own music by choosing it from the XMB was added, and a whole host of little tweaks and bug fixes were introduced. Brilliant news for gamers, terrible news for lazy reviewers who now have to rewrite their closing paragraph.
For a game that's under £10 ($7 in the States), Critter Crunch is an absolute no-brainer. The gameplay is excellent, with many tips, tricks and nuances to explore as you improve your skills. The game itself will last you a while; there are lots of levels to try your hand at, along with local/online multiplayer and challenge/puzzle modes that can be selected from the menu screen. The hand-drawn art is beautiful in the extreme - this is one of the few games where people will happily sit and watch it being played without even asking to touch the pad. There's so much to look at and every square inch is packed with detail and care.
At the risk of sounding too glowing, Critter Crunch has everything you could want from a puzzle game. It's challenging, rewarding, cute as hell and gross as anyone could wish for.
