onster Lab is a game that lets kids become mad scientists, which as an adult, I can still see the fun in. The game takes place in Uncanny Valley, where one of the members of the Mad Scientists Alliance – Baron Mharty – went astray and started to unleash his not-so-friendly foes on the town’s citizens. Your tutor of sorts – Professor Fuseless, one of the members of the Mad Scientists Alliance – has been asked by Uncanny Valley’s mayor to help take care of the problem. Seeing as Fuseless suffers from agoraphobia and refuses to leave his castle, he sends one of his creations out into the town to take care of the problem.

The gameplay focuses around building the best and most unique monsters possible through completing challenges and going on quests. When foes are defeated, they drop parts, which become ingredients in a recipe for new monster appendages. Appendages come in three flavors: mechanical, biological and alchemical – each with their own pros and cons. Over 156 different parts are available in the game, with four power levels to obtain within each part. For that reason, while the development team is able to whip through the game in only 10 hours, the title could be an endless endeavor for a perfectionist.

In order to make appendages from your collected parts, you need to perform experiments. There are a total of 12 experiments, four per science, that take the form of minigames. In one minigame I had the chance to try out, I had to use the Wii remote to weld together a mechanical arm. Your performance in the minigame has a direct effect on the quality of the resulting appendage, and your energy, attack, hit points and such will reflect your precision in the task.

Battle is initiated when your creature comes in contact with another monster while exploring  the regional map. Using the Nunchuck and Wii Remote, the turn based battle system allows you to target specific body parts on your opponent. The battle ends when you knock off all of the limbs, or destroy the core of the monster you are fighting. If you become low in health, you can choose to sit back and charge up, or dodge to regain a smaller amount of energy. After the battle, you can recharge fully with the completion of another minigame before engaging another baddie. The development team boasts that because of all the unique monster combinations, you will never face the same opponent twice. Monster Lab features six regions, six bosses and 10 environmental challenges. The game will also incorporate online multiplayer, which takes the form of peer to peer battling. Monster lab is in development for both the Wii and DS and is shaping up to be a pretty fun looking title.