Cut the Rope: Experiments Review

Om Nom is back in the newest Cut the Rope entry: Experiments. The game starts with Om Nom in his box, being dropped in front of a lab, where a scientist puts Om Nom through 75 new levels of candy withholding. It's up to the player to cut ropes, pop bubbles, and use all the other tools in the levels to get the candy in Om Nom's mouth, and to try and collect all three stars in the level. The first level box reintroduces the familiar mechanics. The next two are the game's meat and potatoes. The second box involves new rope shooters that connect a rope to where the candy is; using the length of the ropes is often key in these levels. The third box involves new rope posts on plungers. These posts can be dropped and reattached by tapping on them.

The game thankfully features new elements even in its initial levels which reintroduce the core concepts of the game to new players, but veterans will likely find the new moving stars in the early levels an interesting wrinkle as they are re-acclimated to the game. Thankfully these early levels can be skipped entirely, and the first new level set can be accessed immediately. The beauty of the Cut the Rope gameplay is that it lends itself to new gameplay concepts much more easily than Angry Birds, another game with multiple versions; the new rope launcher and suction cup mechanics feel like a natural part of the game, and they do a great job at expanding the core gameplay, especially as they actually experiment with the ropes themselves. ZeptoLab also promises that more levels will come to this version.

While the game has new mechanics, it's hard to argue that this should have been a separate app instead of an update, though considering the original was $0.99 and this is as well, it's hard to complain in the absolute case. It's just harder to justify in the Bizzarro world that is the iOS App Store. While the new mechanics are neat, they don't revolutionize the game, at its core it is still Cut the Rope. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it just doesn't feel fresh. As well, 25 of the game's 75 levels are just rehashing the original concepts. This is good for new players, but the fans who are likely to get the game right away are unlikely to be very entertained by them because they are so familiar.

Cut the Rope: Experiments is still quite fun, but it isn't entirely fresh. Those looking for new levels with new concepts that explore the familiar formula will enjoy this. Those tired of the game won't find much here to appeal to them. New players will likely want to just stick with the original version of the, which has more content than this version of this game at this point.