.NOON Review

.NOON offers one very simple premise: stop the clock at the precise moment the game asks of you. That’s all there is to it. There aren’t any power-ups, boosters, or anything like that. The only in-app purchase simply removes the ads for $0.99 - a worthy price if you ask me.

Starting out, there’s just one clock. It moves at a gentle pace, giving you time to tap at just the right moment for noon. Easy, right? Give it a few more turns and you’ll have to do this with multiple clocks. Each clock moves at a different speed and with only a set number of rotations for each, you’ve got to time when to tap as well as work out which one to prioritize.

There’s also the fact that sometimes you’re not aiming for noon. Some clocks want you to tap them at 3 or 9 instead. It sounds simple enough individually but when you’re in the zone and trying to juggle multiple clocks at once, it can be tricky.

Odds are you’re going to be infuriated by .NOON at regular intervals. It’s a game that you’ll play for a few seconds, get irritated by your own clumsiness, cast aside for a few more minutes, then come storming back determined to do better.

After a while you’ll see your high score creep up, gradually overtaking your friends. That’s where the real fun lies. It’s a score chasing game and you really need to get some friends involved to get the competitive juices flowing.

Ultimately, with a game so strongly focused on timing and good reactions, .NOON does get pretty samey. It’s not the kind of game you’ll be playing for weeks on end, but as a brief distraction and a fun change of pace it’ll scratch an itch for a little while.