Review | Eat Them (PSN)

In Eat Them you get the chance to create your very own giant monster, which you can use to smash, crash and munch your way though various levels. The monster is people-powered so eating folk is a prerequisite for keeping your monster in full-on destruction mode. There’s plenty of mayhem, destruction and plenty of eating on this one the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Rampage.

Lately there have been some very good PSN titles released, not only offering great value for money but surprisingly well rounded packaged games. Eat Them is one of those games; another simple idea that not only looks good in comic-rendered style graphics, but plays well either alone or even better with a friend. Featuring fully customisable monster creations and lots of missions to play, it puts many off the shelf titles to shame.

Generally the game options revolve around destroying the environments and eating people, through to monster races around the towns, survival and hunting missions. As mentioned there is a single-player campaign as well as the option to play split-screen multiplayer, head-to-head and co-operative missions.

You start the game with a handful of pre-made monsters, but will be given the chance to make your own from the various parts on offer as well as additional parts you unlock throughout the campaign mode. Creating your monster is easy and fun; pick a head, arms, legs and torso (both front and back portions), name it, colour it and send it on its merry wave of destruction. Each piece counts towards the monsters various attributes such as the amount of damage it does, the speed in which it runs, slithers or crawls, its power, jumping ability and also the Fear factor. By roaring you will be able to stun the people around you and this is amplified by how frightening you are. This of course makes them easy pickings for you to merrily gobble them up and replenish your health.

As they say, ‘It’s all good fun until someone loses an eye’ and that’s certainly the case with this one as everyone from the local law enforcement through to the full might of the military (including some advanced robotic vehicles) try to take you down. The only way to stay one step ahead is to continually eat everyone that gets close.

Graphically the game may not please all, but I think it’s excellent.  The comic style cel shading works really well with the 50’s stylised environments and crazy scientists bent on world domination. For those of you that have 3D TV’s you will be happy to know that the game also supports 3D functionality. The onscreen destruction is impressive where you can literally flatten the entire environment; buildings can be razed to the ground, and vehicles can be tossed around like matchbox cars.

Although the game sounds easy to play it does offer some real challenge. Each level has a timer running in which you will need to reach your goal, and it’s not always about destroying. In the racing challenges you will in fact be penalised for damaging the city. No easy feat given that your lumbering monstrosity damages everything it touches. The more damage you do to the city, the more that will be pitted against you in retaliation, and believe me when I say a few tanks, soldiers and robots can very quickly leave you in a smouldering heap.

There are heaps of levels in the game, which is quite amazing given it’s a PSN title. The game may start to feel repetitive, resulting in a loss of interest to some of the objectives. However the capability to actually create new custom-built monsters with different abilities ups the ante of what’s on offer. Overall it’s a fine wee romp and worthy of consideration as a download.