The Munchables (Wii)

As platformers go, The Munchables is decidedly fresh. Your ever-growing avatar vaguely recalls Katamari Damacy's perpetually swelling balls, but not enough to feel truly derivative. And it's fun, too. Running around and munching up enemies is oddly habit forming, and there is an undeniable bit of satisfaction and thrill each time our hero grows in size and becomes capable of eating even larger enemies. Plus, for younger players, a friend or parent can help with the stronger opponents by picking up a 2nd controller and shooting at the pirates to break them into smaller, munchable bits.

What's more, it looks and sounds great. The visual aesthetic is distinctly Japanese, consisting of bold colors, bizarre character models, and highly stylized environments that sometimes feel almost like strange and interesting microcosms of flora. The music, meanwhile, switches between recognizable classical melodies rendered in Baby Einstein-ish harpsichord, merry-go-round ditties, and traditional but frenetic video game euphony. It's a bit short, alas, but most of the levels are so much fun that it's almost unthinkable that kids wouldn't want to head back and play them again.