The 1001 list does group things together in the most unusual ways sometimes. First, we had an addictive mobile puzzler Bejeweled Twist. Then we had wildlife photography simulator Afrika. Now, somehow, the two are combined as we watch a wildlife documentary about the fascinating lives of critters in addictive mobile puzzler Critter Crunch.
Let's break that down a little.
Fun Times
Who is that hurtling through the sky? It's Hank Hudson, host of The Unexplored: Explored. A breathtaking opening segment is filmed as he is skydiving down towards Krunchatoa Island in a glorious looking anime introduction.
I mean, it's simple, don't get me wrong, but this looks crisp as all hell on the highest settings the PC port of this iOS and PlayStation 3 title offers. Work of art, this, and we've hardly even begun.
We're following along with the story of a fuzzy little fella called Biggs. He's got a family to feed, and every year his island home gets swamped with critters. Fat critters that like to eat smaller critters that like to eat flying critters in what Hank likes to call a "Food Chain".
It's blisteringly difficult to show you a decent screenshot of the game in action to demonstrate the mechanics because Biggs is a slick little bastard, animated so damn well and so smoothly that it's stunning to think this is a game from 2008. Well, this port was from 2012, but it hasn't been overhauled that much.
Think of Critter Crunch as the 2008 equivalent of Cuphead in terms of animated characters, but instead of bullet hell, you're in a charming little puzzle forest, and your task is to feed critters.
Each medium-sized critter feasts on two of the smaller critters, and each big critter on two of the medium critters. Once fed, they'll pop, rather dramatically, clearing any connected critters of the same colour and size, and shower you in gems which you eat. Eat enough gems to fill your hunger bar and that's the level complete.
That's Critter Crunch at its simplest, but it's more than that. Some levels will see an appearance from your son, Smalls, who wants food regurgitated into his mouth. How pleasant. You get points for it, but the grid of critters continues to descend closer to the floor, and I don't want to find out what happens when they make it to the bottom. It probably involves failure.
If you feed a small critter to a medium critter who is right below a big critter, all three critters are dealt with, as are any like-coloured big critters connected to the now popped big critter. Critters only eat smaller critters, so you can move them into different lanes to try and form connected groups to clear a load at once, rather than endlessly feeding whatever scraps you manage to see.
The introduction of bomb critters will add a new opportunity to deal with the state of play. They'll eat two of anything to explode, clearing their surroundings. They too can be moved around to get rid of critters you can't be bothered or don't have time to deal with, and are as well animated as everything else you'll see.
Reactions of critters getting flung into the mouths of another critter, the happy smiles of Biggs and Smalls as they eat gems, the horror of critters as their neighbours explode. It's delightful.
There are also puzzle modes that task you with clearing the entire grid in a limited number of moves or this challenge to clear the grid within 45 seconds, but it doesn't refill, so you need to actually think about when and where to spit out your snacks.
Frustrations
I didn't get a lot of the puzzles on the first attempt, but a few more tries usually saw me solving it, and I bet they get much more involved over time. This timed challenge looked a little daunting but I managed to get it on the second attempt, I think through a fluke.
Sadly, this was the last thing I saw after half an hour or so before Critter Crunch crashed.
Final Word
After a spot of actual lunch, I fired it up again and unlocked a couple of new areas to the island, each introducing yet more mechanics. I can spit watermelon seeds to remove critters, and there's an infection going around that will spread disease and lose you points if you dare to pick up an infected critter, or even its poisoned gem corpse. How pleasant.
But every part of it looks fantastic, and the gameplay is so straightforward that even if you don't like the challenges, you can have a solid time spitting critters at each other and puking into your son's mouth. Good Lord, the stuff I write...
I moan at the likes of Bejeweled because they feel a bit cheap, a bit basic in the looks department. There is definitely something to be said about easy to understand graphics, especially for the visually impaired, or for puzzles that rely heavily on matching colours or types. I don't disagree with the readability aspect.
But you've got to admit that put side by side, a puzzle that looks like Critter Crunch is more appealing than one that looks like Bejewelled. This is the puzzle game I want. It's just as addicting as the more classic-looking puzzle games, just as easy to pick up and play, but my eyeballs are rewarded with a fantastic visual treat, even when I'm throwing up a rainbow.
There's no doubt in my mind that Critter Crunch is a must-play. Its gameplay is quality, its style is incredible, and I'm appalled its Wikipedia entry is two lines long. There's no way it should be overlooked as it so clearly has been by the Wikipedia editors.
Fun Facts
The gameplay is so slick with the PlayStation 3 and PC versions that you can still feed critters as they're being popped. I don't know if that scores any points or merely results in mocking the critters before they disappear, though.
Critter Crunch, developed by Capybara Games, first released in 2008.
Version played: PC, 2012.