Daily iPad App: Tiny Places HD
Tiny Places is the latest title from Big Fish Games, which typically releases games on PC (mostly casual stuff like find-an-item and puzzle games), but lately has been making a big push on iOS as well. What's interesting about Tiny Places is that it borrows from from iOS games rather than Big Fish's PC catalog. Specifically, from Cut the Rope.
Tiny Places is similar to Chillingo's other physics title (the one that's not about angry birds), in that it features a cute little protagonist trying to reach a goal in a colorful 2D level while using real-time physics to move around. In this case, you play as a chameleon who uses his tongue to hang from various objects, trying to collect "starflies" while moving towards a hole in the wall that kicks off the next level. To start, you can fling the little chameleon around, but as the game progresses, there are other objects to interact with.
Tiny Places is harder than Cut the Rope as precise, airborne is required. Especially if you want to get all of the stars and extras, you'll need to make some pretty tough jumps. But resetting the level is quick and easy, so the game encourages replaying to get things just right. The polish isn't quite as good as Cut the Rope, but if (like me) you've already run through all of the levels of that one, Tiny Places offers a worthy alternative and a fun time in and of itself.
The iPad version is US$1.99 while the iPhone version is just a buck, and there are free versions of each to try out as well. Tiny Places isn't a classic, but if you enjoy physics games, the many levels on display here (with lots of updates to come, according to the app itself) will provide plenty of entertainment.
