Munch Time Review
PROS
- Disturbingly cute main character; nearly impossible to not end up thinking 'Awww he's so cute!' when seeing him eat.
- Fun mix up of ninja-rope swinging mechanics; unique flowers keep things fresh.
CONS
- Lacks incentives for 3-star completions; no encouragement to step up the challenge.
- Lop-sided presentation of new mechanics; most tucked away in the second chapter.
VERDICT
Munch Time packages ninja-rope swinging gameplay in to the tried-and-true formula of cute, three-star physics puzzlers that have come before it.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
I hate to sound like a broken record, but if I'm going to talk about Munch Time from Gamistry, I'm also going to have to talk about it being a 'cute, 3-star, physics-based puzzler'. I say this as though it's a mark against Gamistry, the developer behind this title, but it's not - what it is, is an indicator of just how hard the game needs to work to pull ahead of a fiercely contended pack of games seeking to jostle for first place.
Munch Time revolves around the super-cute chameleon under your control and his long, sticky tongue. His task is one of making it to the grub located on the level by swinging on (mostly) single-use flowers that bloom depending on your current color. Eating bugs will modify your shade and various flowers mix up the challenge by providing new mechanics that need to be taken in to account.
These include rotating flowers that can be used to fling the chameleon; cannons that blast you around the level; dandelions to glide around; and seed-pods that extend your momentum so you can fly further up or across the level (albeit with no other control).
The player can control all of the action with a simple touch, making this an intuitive game to pick up and play. While collecting all the stars on a level isn't always easy, the game does take a considerable amount of time to bust out its truly unique flower types (with many only appearing in the second chapter) and as such the game feels short and lop-sided in its difficulty.
Overall, Munch Time feels much like any other attempt to corner the casual / family-friendly market - it's without a doubt an immensely cute title and one that introduces a fun 'ninja-rope'-like mechanic, but the brevity and lack of incentives for pursuing said gold stars makes it hard to recommend ahead of many other titles floating around at this time.
Screenshots
$0.99
