The original Cut The Rope was a super-hit, racing to the top of the charts on all app stores. It perfectly melded cute and fun graphics with gameplay that was accessible, yet challenging at the same time.
Developer Zepto Labs teased the sequel with Twitter hashtags like #OmNomIsMissing. Om Nom, for the uninitiated, is the lead character of a Cut The Rope — a cute green monster who is always hunting for candy. And in his zeal to protect all his candy, he was trapped by spiders and is now lost in the jungle.
Cut The Rope 2 ($0.99) is all about getting Om Nom back to his home. Can Cut The Rope 2 live up to the standards of its predecessor and be one of the best iPhone games?
Back To Basics
The basic gameplay mechanics of the original Cut The Rope remain intact in the sequel. The physics-based puzzler has pieces of candy in each level, usually tethered by a rope. You have to cut the ropes in the right order to get the candy into Om Nom’s mouth, who is sitting somewhere in the level.
It’s not always the candy that has to make its way to Om Nom; sometimes, you will have to move other elements so that Om Nom reaches the candy. You might have to bring Om Nom to a few balloons which lift him up to the candy, or pop a balloon so that the candy falls near Om Nom and rolls to him. Cut The Rope 2 also gives Om Nom the ability to swim, so there are lots of brand new water-based levels with added physics.
It’s also important to cut the ropes in the correct sequence, so you can collect all of the stars in the level. Stars are grabbed by either the candy or Om Nom touching them. There are other elements to collect too, like clovers that unlock secret levels.
With A Little Help From His Friends
If this seems like too much for little Om Nom to handle, don’t worry. He’s got five friends in this sequel who will help him get to the candy:
- Roto: This little guy flies around the screen, picking up anything in his path. Tap him and he’ll release the object.
- Lick: Hiding in little burrows, Lick looks like an ant-eater and has the tongue to prove it. Tap him and he will shoot his tongue across the screen, creating a barrier.
- Blue: Blue is a little square who can duplicate himself when you tap on him, forming a tower to reach new heights.
- Toss: Shaped like a coil, when any object is caught by Toss, he can fling it across the screen with a tap.
- Boo: Who says friends can’t scare you? Boo freaks Om Nom out and causes him to jump, changing his position.
Each of these friends are wonderfully animated with cute expressions and sounds that immediately make them endearing.
Balance and Imbalance
The best part is the balance that Zepto Labs has struck in the difficulty of the puzzles. It’s tough to make a game that can be easy to finish for kids yet also pose a challenge for adults, but Cut The Rope gets it just right.
And just in case you have a lot of trouble getting through, you can always tap a firefly from your drawer to guide you to solve the puzzle. Your drawer also contains balloons to attach to objects, which you will often need to pick up clovers. Both the fireflies and balloons are limited, so you will need to buy more if you want to use them—an annoying aspect of in-app purchases.
Cut The Rope 2 isn’t a free game, so this move by Zepto Labs seems purely greedy. To unlock extra levels, you have to collect those clovers. After complaints by users, Zepto has just now released an update for the game that lets you collect medals in the levels, which can also unlock the secret levels.
Still, it would have been good if there was a way to “earn” more balloons and fireflies by simply playing the game, rather than having to purchase them. Such in-app purchases are really annoying and can be avoided, as we have seen Plants vs. Zombies 2 do so well.
Still Worth It
Despite the in-app purchases, Cut The Rope 2 is a fun game to play and well worth the dollar it asks for. Whether it’s a title you want for yourself or for your kids, it doesn’t disappoint.
There’s a total of 100 levels set across five “worlds”, with each world offering an additional three secret levels to unlock. Zepto Labs has promised more levels soon, so you can always look forward to that when you are done with the game.
Right now, Cut The Rope 2 is available only for the iPhone, though an Android version will be coming soon. There’s no word yet about a version for Windows, but hopefully Microsoft will come up with a browser-based version like they did for Cut The Rope.
Download: Cut The Rope 2 ($0.99)
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