“Monster Lab” is a Wii game that is easy to overlook. Not only is the third-party title in direct competition with Nintendo’s first-party software, but its developer, Backbone Entertainment, is a relative unknown to many gamers. Plus, it totally looks like a Saturday morning cartoon, which might make some mature gamers reluctant to purchase it.

I had planned to pick up the game when it hit the $20 price point, but the promise of monster-on-monster combat proved too great for my feeble mind to resist. Is the Wii version of “Monster Lab” worth your hard-earned cash or does it belong in a bargain bin alongside “M&M’s Kart Racing“?

When it released last November, “Monster Lab” received very little coverage. The game seemed destined to be lost in the shuffle, as most wagglers were too busy purchasing their seventh copy of “Mario Kart Wii.” On the other hand, multi-console owners undoubtedly saved their cash for blockbusters like “Gears of War 2,” “Fable II,” “Rock Band 2″ and “Resistance 2.”

Here’s the story of the game, so far. As an apprentice for the Mad Science Alliance players must help the eccentric scholars dispatch the villainous Baron Mharti, a rogue member who is using his talents to terrorize the denizens of the Uncanny Valley. To thwart the nefarious genius, players must create their own battle-ready monsters from ingredients (saw blades, pumpkin heads, spiny crabs, nightshade, wolf’s blood, etc.) scattered about the land.

Players must take these collected items back to the Alliance’s castle, where they can be cobbled together to create monster parts. These parts can then be added to existing creations or used to forge new beasts.

There are four types of monster parts: torsos, arms, legs and heads. To create parts, players must complete various experiments (read: minigames). Each part in each of the three sciences (mechanical, biological and alchemical) has its own specific experiment. In the beginning, players can only craft mechanical parts, but gain access to biological and alchemical experiments soon after. Unlike most of the other minigames in “Monster Lab,” the experiments are quite fun. For instance, Haunted Organ is reminiscent of “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band,” while “Mystic Maelstrom” tasks budding scientists with protecting a vulnerable organ from menacing spirits. Though, as players progress, they might grow tired of playing the same games repeatedly. This is unfortunate, as experimentation is essential to the experience. There are four difficulty levels per experiment, but the excessive repetition is disappointing.

Players deploy their creations via the castle’s Troublescope. The Valley’s six regions are designed like game boards (think “Mario Party”). Rather than move freely throughout the environments, players move from space to space. As a result, “exploration” is not very satisfying. What’s more, the regions themselves aren’t very big. Thus, you can cover an entire area in minutes. Oftentimes, players will find themselves forced into battle, which can be particularly annoying, if they are simply trying to complete a quest, or return to the castle.

Players progress through the story by completing quests specific to each region. Usually, players are asked to defeat a certain enemy or find important objects, but gamers will also have to compete in races and clear various obstructions. Unfortunately, the simplistic quests shouldn’t provide much of a challenge for seasoned gamers. For instance, one of the latter quests in the Wildwoods tasks players with removing evil thorns from the Mother Tree. This is done by simply moving to certain spaces and drumming the Wii Remote until the smash meter is filled. The retrieval missions, which ask players to collect things like radioactive gas and mutated tree samples, simply require users to press “A” when on a certain spot.

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