EAT THEM! (PS3)
Eat Them! is one of those games that taps into a player’s base, primal desires. Allowing you to build your own monsters, then use them to smash everything in sight, FluffyLogic would deliver the goods for those wanting to break stuff. As a digital-only title with a very cheap price point, it’s a game that doesn’t see much evolution through its short campaign, but has enough carnage to entice those wanting to relax their brain. It’s a shame the missions become trite by the end, but despite this, it’s a game with enough interesting things going for it to be worth a look.
An extremely thin narrative links the monster smash together, as Eat Them! follows the exploits of a mad scientist who builds towering creatures to do this bidding against an evil mega-corp. It’s pretty silly, features no dialogue to speak of and has next to nothing in the way of narrative, but most players will be here for the destruction. It allows you to build your monster from head to toe, with a handful of parts available from the start and more unlocking as you earn medals. Each piece adds to one of several stats, including speed, damage and fear, and choosing the right parts for each mission can greatly improve your chances of earning Gold. The customisation is one of the cool parts of this game, with enough similarly built parts that let you tinker to your heart’s content, you can keep experimenting freely.
...Like Rampage for the 21st Century: Eat Them! allows you to smash cities with the gleeful joy of an eighties arcade game
Playing this one feels similar to the arcade classic Rampage. Each level sends you into a contained area filled with buildings, civilians and environmental objects. Destruction is a key part of the fun here, as you can stomp and strike buildings until they fall into rubble. Civilians can be picked up and eaten to regenerate your health, a crucial function as it also powers your monster’s strikes and attacks. Each arm can be outfitted with a melee strike or firearm and the R1 buttons simulate the motion of remotely controlling the creatures. You also can equip a backpack, of sorts, which adds a third weapon. Of course, your carnage doesn’t go unpunished as destroying the block results in the army being sent in, escalating in strength and capacity depending on how much damage you cause. Early levels see you fighting local police, while latter stages see more futuristic forces defending the city. The mechanics are simple, but get the job done and help bring the city-smashing destruction to life.
Sadly, Eat Them! lacks the variety to sustain this monster mash. Main chapters are made up of the same handful of mission types. Destruction events task you with causing a certain amount of damage, Race sees you running around the environment while avoiding causing too much damage and bonus stages usually revolve around either eating as many people as you can or returning something to a location. All of the above is within a time limit and while it adds some pressure to the proceedings, most will be able to ace earlier missions with careful monster creations. Latter stages do start to ramp up the challenge, but it’s all stuff you’ve seen before. In between, there are a handful of story missions which use comic-style cut-scenes, but the gameplay here is mostly the same as other missions – smash, eat and repeat. Just a couple more mission types could have made a difference.
Sadly, Eat Them! lacks the variety to sustain this monster mash. Main chapters are made up of the same handful of mission types. Destruction events task you with causing a certain amount of damage, Race sees you running around the environment while avoiding causing too much damage and bonus stages usually revolve around either eating as many people as you can or returning something to a location. All of the above is within a time limit and while it adds some pressure to the proceedings, most will be able to ace earlier missions with careful monster creations. Latter stages do start to ramp up the challenge, but it’s all stuff you’ve seen before. In between, there are a handful of story missions which use comic-style cut-scenes, but the gameplay here is mostly the same as other missions – smash, eat and repeat. Just a couple more mission types could have made a difference.
It’s also relatively short, as you can likely beat the game in a couple of sittings and even getting the trickier Gold medals becomes easy once you unlock the better weapon parts. There is also a multiplayer mode, allowing up to four players to smash together. It’s a nifty thing, which feels reminiscent of Rampage’s multiplayer scraps rather than using an awkward split-screen mechanic, and the game holds steady considering. It allows you to play through most of the game, and the upped medal challenges definitely adjust nicely to the increased manpower. If you can get three other friends together for this one, the monster-smash could last you a good amount of time and, considering the cheap price tag of £3.29, that’s pretty good.
Eat Them! doesn’t exactly push the PS3 to breaking point, but the cel-shading and colourful palettes appeal in a retro manner, almost like this is a long-lost Dreamcast title. The animations look serviceable, the monsters appropriately unsettling and the destruction plentiful, though the latter can cause performance issues especially when the army joins in. The sound isn’t super, as the handful of music tracks mostly fade into the background. The sound effects hit the mark however, whether it’s the crunching of civilians as you eat them for health, the smashing of buildings or the explosive gunfire from defending parties.
Eat Them! doesn’t exactly push the PS3 to breaking point, but the cel-shading and colourful palettes appeal in a retro manner, almost like this is a long-lost Dreamcast title. The animations look serviceable, the monsters appropriately unsettling and the destruction plentiful, though the latter can cause performance issues especially when the army joins in. The sound isn’t super, as the handful of music tracks mostly fade into the background. The sound effects hit the mark however, whether it’s the crunching of civilians as you eat them for health, the smashing of buildings or the explosive gunfire from defending parties.
Eat Them! makes for a decent time, especially considering its cheap price point, though players should be braced for repetition and a brief runtime if going in solo. The monster-mash feels mechanically sound, and there’s a particular satisfaction in reducing a building to rubble or chewing through hapless civilians. Maybe with a couple more mission types and some refinement, this could have been a bit hit like it’s inspirations. Still, those looking to relive the glory days of hapless smashing like Rampage should check this out, especially if you have three friends with a similar appetite for destruction.
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VERDICT
"Eat Them! makes for a decent time, especially if you have three friends with a similar appetite for destruction. However, players should be braced for repetition and a lack of lifespan." OVERALL: 6/10 |