QUICK LOOK

• Casual game for Android or iOS
• Physics-based puzzle game
• Adorable and addictive

You know sometimes you start playing a game that leads you to tell friends you can’t come out tonight because you have some horrible incurable disease (when actually you just really, really need to get to the next level)? Well, this is one of those games.

Cut the Rope has been an obsession of mine for months. Until very recently, it was an Apple-only app, and the reason I would sneak off with the office iPad and hide in the corner, making strange “om nom nom” noises. Thankfully, it’s now been released for Android, so this strange behaviour of mine can now cease.

The premise of the game is quite simple: you have a pet frog-monster thing. But it’s adorable. And it eats candy. So far, it seems like the game was designed by a 5 year old, I know. But essentially, below the cute bubbly graphics, it’s a very clever puzzle game that requires you to get candy to the frog by manipulating it through a series of tools (mainly rope and bubbles) to get to the frog, collecting stars along the way for additional points.

The physics of the engine are quite advanced and the game feels very accurate and tactile. It’s beautifully responsive and snappy to play, and the silly graphics make you fall in love with it. It’s the perfect game for people who have an oral fixation, because that little frog makes the most satisfying “GHOUM” noise when it bites into its candy. I dare you not to “om nom nom” along with that damn cartoon frog. I dare you.

The animation of the frog is great. He’s responsive to your movements as you play, following the path of the candy with his eyes and opening his mouth in expectation whenever you get close to him. He even manages a look of painfully sincere disappointment if you miss. Maybe it’s just me, and maybe I love food too much, but I feel an emotional connection to that frog.

The game is a good balance between rational pre-planning and fast-paced timing: even if you’ve planned out your route perfectly, you still have to cut the rope at exactly the right moment or lose the momentum of your swing. This keeps you highly engaged. I found I was happy to replay levels over and over again to improve on my score. There are also hundreds of levels, so you can (and will) play for hours.

Downsides? The game doesn’t make use of the accelerometer, although instinct still has you tilting your phone all over the place (and no doubt looking like a chop as you do so). It also has a high propensity to cause you to make funny faces to mirror your frog. I know that it’s not just me who does this. I have watched someone else playing the game and they did exactly the same thing. I have PROOF! Proof, I tell you! *twitch, mumble…*

It’s a very addictive game. Try it; that little animated frog might steal your heart like it stole mine.

Turn ons

• Mentally challenging
• Adorable
• Very satisfying to play

Turn offs

• You look stupid playing it
• You will develop a deep hatred for spiders, that will rival only your hatred of green pigs who steal eggs

Price: Just under R7 from the Android Marketplace

(Apparently, you can download it for free from m.getjar.com (click ‘quick download’ at the bottom of the page and type in 75206), but I couldn’t get this to work on my phone)