Official Score
Overall - 70%
70%
The letters will eventually lead into a breaking point that lay out for you what exactly is going on and what you have to do to change it. I don't want to spoil anything so there isn't really much more to say about the game. It's dark, it's fun and if 5 hours of intense gameplay of burning toys sounds interesting to you, it is probably worth every penny.
Little Inferno made by the Tomorrow Corporation prides itself on being an indie gem. The three developers have already made two other critically accepted indie games, World Of Goo and Henry Hatsworth. The game is available on the PC as a download and also is one of the first downloadable titles available for the Wii U for $15. The real question on everyone’s mind, does the Wii U eShop title open the indie world with a bang? Or does the title burn your $15 into a regrettable ash.
| Little Inferno Review | ||
To say that Little Inferno has character, is almost an understatement. Everything about this downloadable title has this slightly dark, dystopian, cuteness to it. From the start of the game you get this pit in your stomach that something isn’t quite right. Although there is cute toys, cute kids and cute animations the overall package has this tinge of awful, in a good way. The three people that developed this game have a specific identity and outlook on the world and you can tell in the humor of this downloadable title.
A good majority of the game is burning stuff. Stuffed animals, books and other toys that are bought by using an in game currency. As you burn more stuff you get more money. That’s all there really is. The depth comes from the different kinds of combos and keeping a flame burning. As you buy more objects more combos open up. As you burn more combos more objects keep opening up. It is an addicting cycle that should last anyone at least 3 or 4 hours to complete enough to complete the story. That isn’t the end of the combo list though. There is a ton of different things to combine and have fun doing.
Because the gameplay is so simple, the controls are pretty simple as well. You can either use the Wii U GamePad or the Wiimote on the Wii U. Tapping and dropping objects is easy because there is no accuracy really needed. This is smart for the Wii U GamePad because the touchscreen is not the best in the industry. Another thing that is worth mentioning as that you can completely play on the GamePad by itself. This makes the game more addicting, allowing players to pick up the game whenever they feel like, even if someone else is using the TV.
The humor that comes with burning these things is dark. When you buy a school bus and burn it in the Inferno, you can here people screaming. At first this was off putting, but eventually I started to understand. The darkness is laying down a framework for the player to think about.
Furthering the dark and creepy feelings are letters that are sent to you from your neighbor. Every letter is cute and yet off just like the rest of the game. You can tell that the developers really wanted to give off this particular feeling of off-ness that is hard to describe. The best thing I can compare it to is cartoon shows like Courage the Cowardly Dog, Invader Zim, Ren & Stimpy and even a little bit of Salad Fingers. As the letters come, it makes you want to question more and more while at the same time making you feel like there is a train wreck just ahead.
The letters will eventually lead into a breaking point that lay out for you what exactly is going on and what you have to do to change it. I don’t want to spoil anything so there isn’t really much more to say about the game. It’s dark, it’s fun and if 5 hours of intense gameplay of burning toys sounds interesting to you, it is probably worth every penny.
This review is based on a retail copy of the Wii-U version of Little Inferno
