"One of the quirkiest, zaniest, laugh-out-loud funniest games that you probably completely missed."

There are currently a lot of strange, funny titles that you can easily get your hands on: Psychonauts, by Double Fine Studios, is lovingly orchestrated by the always wild Tim Schaffer, Sam & Max has entered a rejuvenation in the form of episodic games, and Katamari Damacy proves that, sometimes, creation by means of a nasty drug trip can lead to some highly pleasant results. However, not all of these oddball titles go noticed, and that's where Capcom's Under The Skin slips in.

The story goes thusly: You are Cosmi, an alien who has dispatched himself to Earth in order to play pranks on the unsuspecting people of the planet. Why? It's what your race does; go out to other planets and annoy and prank as much as possible. Unfortunately, Cosmi may be in a bit over his head; Earth has never been successfully pranked to the max, thanks to its seemingly barbaric, chaotic, and sometimes downright mean denizens. To make matters worse, the trip down was a bit harrowing; thanks to slamming into a satellite of a tv station and crashing right back into the city of whose satellite is now a smoldering heap, the people of Earth are now aware that aliens may be among them, and are currently going absolutely nuts. Not exactly par for the course. Of course, little Cosmi [so little, in fact, that he's still in his diapers] isn't going to let a silly little reputation and situation like that stop him in his conquest of the world, now, is he? With the help of the strange-looking Master Itazura [who speaks through a sock puppet.. or maybe the sock puppet speaks through him], Cosmi will blend in with the crowd and strike when he's least expected.

What you'll first notice about the game is its presentation; the music is quirky, upbeat, and delightfully techno, and some slick, masterful use of cel-shading makes the characters pop right to life. The menus are simple and easy to navigate, though the game immediately lets you know there's plenty to unlock, from a couple of extra game modes to a ranking system that lets you keep up with your mastery of the game.

Entering into the game will plop you right into a simple, entertaining tutorial section. The controls are ridiculously simple; the left analog stick moves Cosmi around, the right moves the camera. Circle allows you to "abduct" a human being and collect his or her data to be used as a disguise. L1 and R1 switch between your currently available items to be used as pranks against the various humans, and X activates the item for use. As you start out in a level, you're dropped into a human disguise with a collection of five items, picked randomly, for use at the beginning. After each use, the item disappears, and, when all your items are gone, it's time to switch to a new disguise. You do this by finding another human with items [as you approach a human, their item list will show up below their name], and you abduct them with your ray gun. Find a stationary UFO in the area, and you can instantaneously switch to your next costume, complete with a refreshed item list. With each item you use, you have the potential to knock loose a slew of coins to add to your collection; these are key to completing the levels, as you're tasked with a quota of anywhere between 500 and 1000 coins, and time isn't on your side, typically set between five and ten minutes to complete your task. This isn't all too tough, though, as the right strategy and clever use of items will keep the coins flowing regularly and often. The items are incredibly varied, as well, as you'll find many useful pranking objects such as fireworks, pies, a karaoke set, cap guns, hammers, and even a herd of elephants.

Things aren't quite that simple, though. If you aggravate too many humans, you'll have a mob of them rampaging after you, demanding vengeance. Take damage, and your costume will be reduced to its skivvies. Get hit again, and you lose your costume entirely, along with a few dozen hard earned coinage. There's even an item called a virus that you have to beware of; attain it, and it will infect your other items, rendering them useless. Let the infection spread, and you'll take damage, knocking you right out of your costume, and forcing you to drop your coins. What makes matters more difficult is that each stage, unique in its goal and set-up, also has a Panic Mode, in which, at any given point for about thirty seconds to a minute things go crazy. In one level, your radar will become completely useless thanks to a desert storm, and a few others will put you at a serious disadvantage [give you viruses with every costume change, get damaged, et cetera] if you aren't in a specific costume type. Not only that, but there's always another alien who's trying to one-up you, and they aren't afraid of bumping elbows with you if it means they can win.

If this sounds at all complicated at the start, fret not; humans are aplenty, and UFOs are numerous enough throughout each stage to never be too far apart, no matter where you are. The action keeps fast-paced, but you always have the ability to keep up, no matter how short-changed you may be at any given moment. With the right strategy, you'll find yourself raking in the coins and racking up some awesome combos with your items in no time at all.

The quirkiness of the gameplay is supported by the in-game graphics; the cel-shaded visuals of the opening movie are almost perfectly replicated in playable motion. Cosmi bounces along in an almost slinky-like fashion, and each human hobbles around each of the nine individual towns in a unique and sometimes funny way. The designs are vaguely reminiscent of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, though the cartoony factor has been turned up to eleven on this one. Characters will splat against walls, flatten like pancakes, heads will inflate and go wan and pale at the sound of bad karaoke [or green at the smell of a nasty fart, no joke], and bodies will knock over and transform into bowling pins as they're struck by bowling balls. The myriad of effects each item has are well animated, and are fittingly funny. The city environments, though quite small by many standards, feel noticeably larger than they look, and keep the visuals varied and entertaining throughout. Each area is noticeably different from the rest, ranging from an Old West style area, a cemetery, a casino, and even the infamous Raccoon City [complete with Jill Valentine and Nemesis roaming around], and the cities are all well designed enough so that each specific area of a level provides a good opportunity to rake in the points.

The audio in the game has a rather infectious quality. Each level has its own particular theme, and some tunes are incredibly catchy. "Little Green Bag," a licensed song from the late 1960's, acts as the game's ending theme, and it's so disturbingly fitting that it will immediately latch into your head, vaguely reminiscent of Space Channel 5's ending themes by the Picadilly Brass. The sound effects and voices throughout each level are appropriate to the content, with hamfisted shrieks and yells from the populous to the whinnying of horses and honks of cars to the robotic commands of droids and groans of zombies, and each little "pow" and "wham" packs a good, though slightly muffled punch.

The game excels at being simple, fun to play, and a fairly good party game between friends, as it's practically as enjoyable to watch as it is to play, and with both a versus mode and a Co-Op mode and a selection of aliens to choose from, it makes the deal that much nicer. However, the game doesn't go without a rather crippling flaw: Length. This title can be blown through in less than a few hours, and gaining all the extras by completing the game a second time only bumps it up to six hours at the most. The difficulty isn't too high, especially considering even a slow-to-learn player can pick up on a few good, reliable strategies and tactics to rack up quick coin easily, so there's not a lot of retrying to finally nail a level. Multiplayer is fun for a kic, though, and manages to stay fresh even after several hours of just messing around, which many games still have a problem of managing.

All in all, considering this somewhat rare game is still relatively cheap [most locations price it at well under $20, not quite bargain bin material], it may be worth a purchase if you're looking for a good way to spend a weekend with a friend or two. It's more worth it, however, to simply have to show off to unsuspecting friends and newbies to gaming, thanks to its pick-up-and-play nature and addictive style. Though it lacks a lot of features and substance to really merit a grade-A title, it may be just odd enough for you to go back and hunt for.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/07