It took a long time for this game to come to Android, and admittedly even longer for me to write this review. But I didn’t want to rush through playing it. Well, that’s what I’d want you to believe. Some of it was just very, very challenging. It really can be a brain tangler, but is that enough to earn your dollars? Take a gander at our review below.

Premise

You get this little critter and, for some reason, he’s just high on candy. He loves it. What’s even crazier is that you somehow have an unlimited supply of candy to give him. All is well then, right? Unfortunately, many obstacles await you. You have to cut tons and tons of rope to fulfill this little guy’s appetite because candy apparently comes attached to rope now. In for a long day.

Presentation

Cut the Rope won’t take you into the third dimension, but it still presents itself quite beautifully. Graphics are very high quality and vibrant in color, and the physics are pretty well done. The pieces of candy hang realistically from the rope, swinging and bouncing just as it would in real life if you were let it fall until the rope reaches its length.

The physics are more than just great to take in visually, though – it comes in to play when you have to find out how to get the candy past different obstacles  in order to get it to your critter. The sound on this game is light-hearted and pleasing. Just as with the graphics, it’s very high in quality. On the few different devices I’ve played it on (including an HTC Status , there were no performance issues I could complain about.

Gameplay

Cut the Rope’s name describes the core gameplay quite elegantly, but there’s a bit more to it than that. In order to feed the hungry critter inside your box you’ll have to cut the rope it’s swinging from. You’ll fail if you can’t get it into its mouth. The game eases you in at first but starts throwing more and more at you as time goes on.

For instance, a piece of candy my be hanging from several pieces of rope, forcing you to find the right order to cut them in so that you can get it to the critter. Later on, things like spikes, dynamic ropes (ones that appear and attach to your piece of candy once it enters its vicinity), and a bubble will all make getting the candy to your critter a bit trickier. You’ll see the biggest changes as you move from box to box. I’d go through all of them, but this review would be needlessly long. Go through and surprise yourself because there is a lot.

More than feeding the critter, there are also stars you can get on each level. These are optional, but they add to your score and are a fun side objective. This makes the game even more challenging for players who like to get all stars or collectibles in games. You may lose a chance to get a star if you pass it up depending on each level, so you’ll find yourself restarting over and over again until you find the right path.

Replay Value

There are 7 boxes to start and each box has at least 25 levels. That coupled with the urge to get as high a score and as many stars as you can on each level, you should be busy for quite a while. And if that isn’t enough, ZeptoLab has committed to bringing more levels later on. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to finish it all before then so you should be in good shape.

Overall

For just $1.01, you’re getting a very big package for your money. If you like challenging puzzlers, this is for you. Impatient players may not get too far (past the second box) before they end up frustrated so keep that in mind if you’re that type. I really can’t seem to find a flaw here, though. Unlike that other extremely popular game with birds, you’ll be met with different situations in every level. It doesn’t get stale unless repetition is your achilles heel. Trust me, just take the plunge if you haven’t already.