(mashedmarket)

My wife and I kind of went crazy for the Critter Crunch demo on PlayStation Network. We ended up buying the full version last week, and have been thoroughly entertained by Biggs’ jiggly little body ever since. That squishy orange fuzzball is just so gosh-darn loveable it’s hard to put him down!

Er, that’s not exactly right, is it? Biggs pretty much just shuffles from side to side. Sure he’s cute, but he’s also just a delivery system for some deeply engaging puzzle mechanics.

Or maybe the puzzle mechanics are deeply engaging entirely BECAUSE of Biggs. Could this be it?

In my mind, the game’s puzzle aspects and its anthropomorphized protagonist work together to draw players’ attentions. But I think the “fun factor” leans heavily on our hero’s personality and predicament. Your (bearded?) Biggs must consume various tiny critters partially in order to feed his offspring via regurgitation. This is quite a powerful hook: when Biggs’ son waddles into frame, you’re not just thinking about the major bonus points you’ll get if you can barf into his mouth for an extended period. No. Somewhere back there — I can almost guarantee it — you’ll be thinking, Survival imperative!  Must feed kids! 

One can, with effort, resist this impulse when Biggs is in danger of being overrun by his own wriggling dinner items. In part that’s because you know Biggs, Jr. (AKA Smalls) will live. But it’s also that you’re desperate to continue playing, and, while bonus points are tempting, they don’t mean so much as finishing the level does.

And then, finally, these weird part-game mechanic, part-imaginative, but wholly hybridized elements coalesce nicely until, somehow, the not-so-selfless act of earning extra points becomes a gesture. You give, but it’s like your high score is rolling up precisely because giving feels good. And therein lies what is, in my opinion, the real strength of Critter Crunch: it’s a puzzler that makes you FEEL something. Nothing big, nothing mind-blowing. Just something neat…a little flash of happiness, of regret, of…emotion.