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Cut the Rope 2 is a lovable adventure with an interesting take on in-app purchases
Cut the Rope has spawned a massive empire of physics-centered mobile gameplay. From the first game's staggering 400 million downloads to the myriad spinoffs dropping candy into Om Nom's mouth, this game is big business. Now Om Nom is back -- exclusively for iOS -- in the series' first official sequel and Cut the Rope has never been better, even when you take into account the in-app purchases. Cut the Rope 2: Om Nom's Unexpected Adventure builds upon all of the minor details that made the first game such a smash hit. Players are tasked with cutting ropes to manipulate the environment in such a way that candy will fall into our adorable green hero's mouth. Along the way, players collect stars to get higher and higher scores. Om Nom has more personality than ever before, reacting with fear, joy, frustration and sadness depending on how you play. There were numerous times during my first play-through where I found myself audibly giggling at Om's adorable responses. He feels more like a character and less like a goal post this time around. You may find yourself poking the little guy sometimes just to make him laugh and squirm. The levels are designed to be played through quickly, but present a range of solutions, making the title appealing whether you're playing waiting for your bus or hunkering down to just focus on gaming. At launch, the game features five worlds with 120 levels in total that take Om through city parks, forests, a junk yard, a dam and under the very ground itself. There are also an extra 20 levels available for players who collect the four-leaf clovers that are scattered about the maps. Om Nom isn't alone in his quest this time around, thanks to the addition of five different Nommies, creatures that help our hero on his quest to eat all of the candy. Discovering how to use each Nommie to your advantage is part of the fun. Lick, an odd orange anteater-like creature, shoots his tongue out to form bridges or blockages when you tap him. Sometimes you'll use him to trap balloon-adorned candy from floating away; sometimes he'll provide a ramp. Other friends allow you to build blocks, fly candy and scare Om into jumping to new levels. There are power-ups available for Om's adventure, and they're a bittersweet affair. There are only three of them available, and depending on how you play, they're all useful. Players can use balloons to lift candy around levels, get hints to three star solutions and create candy storms for higher scores. The game gives you a limited number of uses of each power up, but then asks you to cough up your hard-earned dough to buy more. Thankfully, you don't need to buy power-ups to finish the game, but it's obvious you're missing out if you don't have some balloons. Here's where developers ZeptoLab are throwing addicts a bone. Yes, in-game transactions suck. It's terrible, especially in a game that you pay to buy, to have to pay extra money to get the full game experience. ZeptoLabs however has listened to the calls of people who say, "I wish I could just pay X amount and get the full game." So on top of paying a little at a time for a small number of power-ups, players are also given the option of paying one lump sum for infinite amounts of power-ups. For $49.99, you get unlimited uses of all three power-ups. It's more expensive to buy infinite supplies individually; balloons will currently only set you back $19.99 due to a sale, while a never-ending Candy Rain or solutions will cost you $24.99. It all adds up, but at least they (sort of) listened to gamers who wanted the option to be free of nickel-and-diming. You still have to pay for hats, but since they don't affect the gameplay, I have no issue with these sorts of purchases. The main game of Cut the Rope 2 will probably only take experienced players a few hours to finish, but each level has been augmented with secondary goals. Sometimes they take the form of high scores or finishing a level without cutting a single rope. It adds a nice layer of replay value to the game, although meeting these goals without shelling out more than the game's $0.99 price tag is basically impossible. This week, I've spent a good 40 minutes going back and forth with myself on if I would buy infinite balloons or not. If Cut the Rope 2 was a full game for my console with several hundred levels that cost $19.99 and came with infinite balloons I would pay that amount happily. Of course, if Super Mario Bros. was released and they expected me to pay for the right to use a mushroom power-up, I'd be furious. The power-up is part of how the game is designed to be played. Why are you charging me for it? In the end, I'm probably going to break down and buy the infinite balloons. Cut the Rope 2 is an incredibly clever game, full of humor and joy. The graphics have been subtly upgraded with minor animations that add major depth to the title. Om Nom may not be a fully realized character with a Frank Miller-worthy backstory, but you will giggle at his fears and smile when he celebrates. ZeptoLabs has shown a commitment to adding new levels to its games, so in a month or two, there are sure to be more than 120 levels available for the game. But as it stands right now on release day? Cut the Rope 2 is well worth your $0.99, and at least one argument with yourself over whether you should buy unlimited balloons.
Daily iPhone App: Cut the Rope: Time Travel sends Om Nom through the centuries
Cut the Rope is one of the most-downloaded apps on the App Store, and its developers, ZeptoLab, have made quite a character out of its lead, Om Nom. The series' latest incarnation is called Cut The Rope: Time Travel, and it's available on the App Store (in both iPhone and HD versions) right now. As you can tell by the title, Time Travel sends Om Nom through a crazy creation off into various time periods, and the biggest innovation in this game is instead of just feeding one candy to one creature, you have two pieces of candy to safeguard through the game's physics-based puzzles. Om Nom is joined by a period-specific friend in every level, and that friend also has some candy to eat. Additionally, every time period also offers new tools to play with, like chains that need to be cut a specific way, or a time-freezing tool you can use. One of Cut the Rope's charms is that it's always been very casual, and ZeptoLab's polish is on display here for sure. But I found some of these puzzles fairly hard, so I wouldn't be surprised if this one is a little bit tougher than the other Cut the Rope games. It's also interesting that while the first Cut the Rope was published by Chillingo, ZeptoLab has essentially abandoned that partnership, as they're self-publishing this game as well. That doesn't mean anything for the gameplay, but it is a fairly unique choice by ZeptoLab, as many developers that work with Chillingo stuck with the company. Aside from the game's publishing status, however, Cut the Rope: Time Travel is another excellent iteration of the popular series, offering plenty of new levels to explore, and another big helping of Om Nom's charm. ZeptoLab has doubled up the puzzle-based gameplay, and put together another sure winner for Cut the Rope fans. The iPhone version can be had for $.99, and the HD version is $2.99.
Cut the Rope comes to life in new web series
It seems the cuteness of ZeptoLab's charming iOS puzzle game Cut the Rope can't be contained by the small screens of iPhones and iPads. The developer has debuted a web series starring the game's lovable protagonist, Om Nom, that combines live action footage with traditional animation. Called Om Nom Stories, the series is comprised of 10 episodes that tell the tale of Om Nom coming to live with a young boy named Evan. The episodes will be released on a regular basis and can be watched either on YouTube or directly from within Cut the Rope: Experiments via a new app update released today. A second season of Om Nom Stories is already planned and will get a bump to an impressive 40 episodes. In addition to the web series and other tie-ins, ZeptoLab is teaming up with Sony Pictures Television to develop a game show based on Cut the Rope, which sounds just bizarre enough to actually work. Show full PR text Om Nom Comes to Life in ZeptoLab's New Animation Series, "Om Nom Stories" Fans Can Watch New Series Right In the Game or on YouTube October 25, 2012 – San Francisco, CA – ZeptoLab, the entertainment and gaming company best known for the hit game Cut the Rope, today launched a new animation series, "Om Nom Stories," bringing its little green monster to life on screens worldwide. Season 1 of the animation series, starting today, will be 10 episodes long and run through the beginning of 2013. Plans for Season 2 are in the works with an estimated 40 episodes coming next year. "We are constantly amazed by the fans of Cut the Rope and just how much they love the character of Om Nom. They create their own costume and videos and design cakes and homemade crafts all based on him," said Semyon Voinov, co-founder and creative director at ZeptoLab. "We wanted to bring him to life in new ways and show fans more about who he is and where he comes from. Video animation really is a perfect fit for Om Nom's character so about a year ago we debuted an animated short on YouTube that told the story of Om Nom and it was a huge success. We can't wait to give our fans even more opportunities to engage with Om Nom as we bring him to life even more through this new animated series." Also launching today is a new video player for Cut the Rope and Cut the Rope: Experiments. Available via an update to the games across both iOS and Android platforms, fans can watch "Om Nom Stories" episodes directly through the app as they are simultaneously released or on the ZeptoLab YouTube channel. Each time a new episode is released, players of Cut the Rope and Cut the Rope: Experiments have the option to receive alerts through push notifications, or they will see an alert on the app icon itself to let them know a new episode is available. Fans can also share episodes with their friends from within the app through Facebook, Twitter and email. The idea for "Om Nom Stories" was sparked by the success of that debuted on YouTube in December 2011 and has since received nearly 8 million views. The series chronicles Om Nom's adventures with a young boy named Evan, beginning with the little monster's mysterious appearance on Evan's doorstep in Episode 1. The animation series goes on to reveal Om Nom's mischievous yet endearing personality as he and Evan bond over day-to-day activities such as playing games, exploring household items and celebrating holidays. As the series progresses, Om Nom and Evan meet new characters that will be familiar to Cut the Rope fans. "In the last two years since we launched Cut the Rope, we've seen constant growth of our active user base, showing us that there's a huge appetite out there for more content whether in the form of new level packs or other exciting initiatives," said Misha Lyalin, CEO, ZeptoLab. "This new animation series will allow us to bring this new content to users on any platform, any device and any screen they choose as fans can watch episodes on YouTube, from within our games, or even in their local movie theaters through a recent partnership. We want to be where our audience is and bringing 'Om Nom Stories' to consumers around the world shows just that." Throughout the month of October, "Om Nom Stories" has been previewed in more than 19,000 movie theaters across the country as part of an exclusive partnership with National CineMedia (NCM)'s FirstLook pre-show. ZeptoLab continues its expansion into entertainment, recently announcing a partnership with Sony Pictures Television to produce a live-action game show based on Cut the Rope.
Cut the Rope: Experiments brings some new twists to the popular property
Besides Doodle Jump, if there's one game I could never get sick of playing on my iPhone, it's Cut the Rope. In the game, you use your finger to "cut" ropes that release candy that (hopefully) end up in a green little creature's big mouth. Other fans of Cut the Rope will be pleased to learn that the sequel was released last week. Cut the Rope: Experiments retains all the things you loved from the first one: challenging puzzles, realistic physics, and that cute little green creature, known as Om Nom after the sound he makes, that loves candy. But the game adds several new features, such as the Professor who is trying to figure out how Om Nom arrived in a package outside his house. The Professor provides running commentary as you play through 75 new levels and some added game elements like suction cups and rope shooters. The farther you advance the more the back story of Om Nom will be revealed through hidden photographs and animations. Despite the added story line elements Cut the Rope: Experiments retains all the fun an playability the first one did and is recommended for anyone who loves feeding candy to little green monsters. Cut the Rope: Experiments is US$0.99 in the App Store.
Report: New standalone Cut the Rope title coming soon
We love Om Nom more than most of our friends and immediate family members, and yet we don't think twice about keeping him imprisoned in puzzle-filled boxes. That's a bit of a double standard; and one that might be remedied soon. IGN reports that a new standalone Cut the Rope title is on its way to the App Store soon, and has also acquired a few images which appear to show the game's ever-hungry mascot escaping from his cardboard confines. The images also show a "Professor's Album," which contains images of an even adorabler, younger Om Nom. Who is this Professor? We're not sure, but considering he's probably responsible for Nom's incarceration, we'd like to have a stern conversation with him. We've contacted Zepto Labs for more information!
TUAW's Daily App: Cut the Rope
At every one of these gaming shows (it's GDC Online this week, which I'm at for TUAW), there's usually a "game of the show" that emerges. It's something, either on the show floor or demoing behind closed doors, that everyone starts to talk about. The buzz starts at parties and in the hallways, and then it carries over into panels and starts to crop up in those casual discussions about "what you've seen this week." But so far, the game everyone's talking about this week isn't even on display at the show. Epic's Mark Rein even recommended Chillingo's newest title, Cut the Rope, to me. It's a brand new game that's already making a huge splash this week (as of this writing, it was number two on the App Store paid list), and it's all the rage among app developers and journalists here at GDC. The phrase being passed around is "Angry Birds meets Fruit Ninja," and those comparisons are apt. The idea is that you guide a little piece of candy, by cutting ropes and manipulating other items in the environment, to a cute little monster that's hungrily trying to eat it. Cut the Rope has the cute characters of Angry Birds and the fun, tactile interaction of Fruit Ninja all wrapped up into one extremely polished and shiny package. For only US$0.99, you get four stages full of levels, three stars to collect in each level (to add replayability), and to top it all off, Game Center integration for achievements and leaderboards. The iPad version is $1.99, but there's also a lite version on that device to check out. I'm not even that big of an Angry Birds fan, but I found myself giggling as I pulled off Cut the Rope's little puzzles. I was very charmed by Om Nom, the little monster who just wants that hanging candy. Cut the Rope has just barely gone live, and this is an app that is already getting into people's heads.
