Tech Blog

[#1]

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but it's well worth the pre-release hype--Toronto-based Capybara Games' Critter Crunch, a unique puzzle game, is being released next week on October 8th for PS3. Best of all it's being released for the bargain price of $6.99.

The price was recently revealed on the Playstation Blog,but there have been far more entertaining updates on the new dedicated website for the game (from where I grabbed the above trailer.) If you've watched the trailer and are still kind of confused as to what Critter Crunch is exactly, well, it's a puzzle game that is easiest to compare to something like Puzzle Bobble (er, also known as Bust-A-Move) or if you're very into puzzlers the Magical Drop series. The thing is, though, it's not especially like either of those.

In the game, you move Biggs, a  cute little monstery fellow, along the bottom of the screen, and he can grab the critters at the top of the screen with his tongue and spit them back. However, here's where it gets interesting. You succeed in clearing away the rows of critters by feeding the smaller ones to the larger ones! It's a game about exploiting the food chain and by "chaining" food chains you can form combos and so on. It's an elegant design and very addictive.

The PS3 version looks set to be the definitive version, as it offers not  only absolutely gorgeous HD graphics, but as well as its traditional adventure, puzzle, challenge and survival modes, it also features online and off 2-player versus mode and a local co-op mode!

If I still haven't managed to convince you this is one of the games to look out for on PS3, that's fine, because if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch you can play the original mobile version of the title by downloading it here (iTunes link). It's currently being sold for $1.99, and if even that's too much there's a lite version (iTunes link) for free. It's well worth trying.

Finally, as part of ther pre-release promotion Capybara have published this neat image of Critter Crunch's star, Biggs, as a variety of other game characters!

 

[#2]

I'm terribly excited for this game; it looks adorable. For $6.99 the host of modes really is a value. Local co-op makes it a lock for me!