Looking like an arts and crafts project come to life, ilomilo is the most adorable puzzle game I’ve ever played. The characters and creatures look doll-like and in one of the worlds the platforms you navigate resemble paper boxes. Everything about the game makes me want to give it a big hug. Don’t let this fool you into thinking it’s going to be simple, however, because waiting down the road are clever and devious puzzles.
The central characters are Ilo and Milo (creatures called ‘Safkas‘), two friends who meet in the park every day. This is no run of the mill park, as every night it reassembles itself into trickier terrain. Switching between the two, you’ll navigate Ilo and Milo through the park in order to reunite them. Scattered throughout the levels are various blocks that can be picked up and repositioned to assist them up, over and around the terrain. Some fill in a small or large gaps, others act as elevators, and eventually you’ll find yourself sending the duo for a ride on a galloping block’s back.
Along the way, there are plenty of collectibles, including photographs, music, other Safkas, and memory fragments. Finding photos and music unlocks galleries to browse through. Finding the Safkas will unlock bonus levels that are trickier than the standard ones. Gathering enough memory fragments gives you part of a letter, which contains a subplot about two people named Ilona and Milton. It’s not a far stretch to view the game as an allegory for what happened to these people, making memory collecting a must for anyone who isn’t merely trying to reach the final puzzle.
If you’re up for cooperative puzzle solving, they’ve also included a multiplayer mode, complete with its own set of collectables. Each player takes turns controlling the action, with a handy pointer for the other player to highlight areas of interest. For competitive players, the leaderboards are set up to track how many steps it takes you to solve the level, the fewer the better. Figuring out how to trim those extra steps from your trek can be more mind boggling than reuniting the pair.
If that’s not enough, there’s an unlockable minigame, in the style of an old handheld game. Controlling both characters at the same time on a constantly shifting board, the object is to grab items for points while obstacles threaten to push you off the edges. It’s really fun and I was disappointed that there weren’t multiple levels.
Telling about anything else would just squeeze all the surprise from it, so I’ll just say that ilomilo is great fun for puzzle game veterans and newcomers alike — and at just 800 MS Points, you’ll have nearly 50 levels to smile your way through.
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Things We Liked: Weird sense of humor and charm give it a unique presence. The soundtrack will keep you humming and whistling long after you finish the game.
Things We Didn’t Like: Too few puzzles of a higher difficulty. Teasing us with a visible locked chapter for upcoming downloadable content is a little annoying.
Target Audience: Puzzle game fans looking for a nice change of pace.
(ilomilo – Developer: SouthEnd Interactive. Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios. Available for Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade – 360 version reviewed. A copy of the game was provided by the publishers for review purposes. Unfamiliar with CFD!’s review system? Read our newly revised explanation here.)
