In this hectic world we live in, many times work and appointments must come before the fun and joys in our lives, including that of getting to play videogames whenever we want. Gone are the days when we could fire up a game of our choice and spend hours toiling away – now we seem to game in stolen moments here and there. With that in mind, perhaps it is no wonder that casual games have become such a popular gaming choice (especially with women who make up the vast majority of casual game players), as casual games allow us to either jump in and get those quick fixes of gaming bliss or either play them for as long as we want when we do have the time. In honor of the casual game, we'll be bringing you a new Casual Game of the Week every Monday to help you find that fix you might be needing in your life, and this week we have: Wik and the Fable of Souls.

I've never fancied myself much of a farmer. I've dabbled in some Harvest Moon games in the past, but I've never really been that successful. When it comes to harvesting, there isn't much to be had, as my thumb is more black than green. So, if I have trouble harvesting in real life, what are my chances of doing well in a game where I'm a frog like creature harvesting grubs with my tongue. Chances are…not that great. Still, doesn't mean I didn't have fun trying.

In the game you play as Wik, a toad looking creature who hops around and is able to grab things with his long extending tongue. As Wik, you'll be looking to rescue the souls of your departed family, and you'll be doing so by gathering crystals the queen wants, and by also harvesting grub worms and spitting them to your mule of sorts who harvests them in its backpack for you.

Control wise, there is a lot to digest and remember in order to be successful in your adventure. By dragging your mouse icon, you're able to inform Wik where you want his attention to go. By placing your icon and left clicking your mouse, Wik's tongue will shoot out to grab things like grubs, honey, or flies and then you are able to spit them out in the direction of your choosing by positioning the mouse icon again and left clicking. You'll be using the grab and spit routine for a lot of the gameplay, as you'll need to grab grubs to spit at your mule to harvest, spit honey for it to gobble up so it will slow down, and spitting acorns and other enemies at enemies to knock them out or drop grubs they might be flying away with. You'll also use your tongue as a fly trap (gathering many enemies at once to do a "shotgun" like spit attack), and you'll use your tongue to latch on to objects and swing on them, using the pendulum motion to swing to out of reach place you can't normally jump to. Speaking of jump, you'll position the mouse icon and right click the mouse to make Wik jump, who will jump up, down, or as far as possible to the placement of your icon.

In order to advance through the game, you'll need to grab the grubs of the level and shoot them at your mule so that it can harvest them and count them. A few of the early levels start out with you simply having to jump and do some swings to be able to get the grubs, and then you just shoot them at your mule – no problem. However, things start getting more tricky when enemies enter into play, who want the grubs for themselves. For instance, if you don't grab a grub quick enough, a fly might swoop down, pick the grub up, and go taking off with it. If you don’t grab it with your tongue or hit the fly with an acorn or other creature to get it to drop the grub, there goes one of your grubs, lessening the chances of you completing the level. Also adding to difficulty is your mule, who acts as a timer of sorts for each level. Your mule will begin on one side of the level, and slowly walk to the right side; should your mule leave the screen before you collect the grubs it's all game over. You can slow the mule down by shooting honey in front of it, which will cause it to slow down for a little so that it can eat it. Meanwhile, you'll also be looking around for jewels, three of which appear in each level: a red, green, and white jewel.

The difficulty is both a blessing and a curse in this game, because though it's nice to have a casual game really have a ton of depth and action behind it, there is sometimes just too much going on at once. So imagine jumping around, whipping your tongue, and trying to grab grubs while you're keeping an eye on the other ones, making sure no enemy goes and takes off with them. While you are grabbing grubs, though, you've got to make sure your mule doesn't get moving too fast, so you have to hop around and spit honey in its way too. Not only that, but you've got to pay attention to the jewels that come flying around, as you'll want to collect those. As you can see, non-multitaskers will have quite a hard time with this game, as they try to delegate what action needs to be done when in order for you to complete the level and win. At least you'll have some powerups, like bombs that explode and wipe away all the flying enemies, force shields, and other such things to make your play a bit easier.

The graphics are charming in a cute, Nightmare Before Christmas sort of way. The graphics are far from being overtly cartoony, instead portraying a more real to life type of vibe, if creatures like this actually did exist. The graphics are solid and pretty detailed, even if Wik gives us the creeps a little in terms of design. The sound work is a bit sparse, as it's mostly filled with a fantasy twirling noises that works as music. You'll get some spitting and thudding noises, as well as that of the eerie grubs cheerfully giggling like a little school kid, as they are being carried away to their doom. Yep, that's certainly something to laugh at you stupid bugs.

We applaud Wik the Fable of Souls for branching out into a casual game that is perhaps more action than any other casual game we've experienced before. The only problem is that the difficulty is so high in some places, it will frustrate, and the minimal music and sound work doesn't help round out the package. Still, for those casual fans looking for something a little more advanced, they should find something pretty unique with Wik the Fable of Souls.

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