Review: ilomilo

For anyone who is yet to play ilomilo on the Xbox Live Arcade, you may still be unaware of how to love.

Through trial and tribulation, Ilona and Milton (aka ilo and milo) loose contact with each other and must be together again or the whole world will fall apart. Ok, it might not be THAT dramatic, but this puzzle game sure does have an underlying plot of sadness and silliness. The two characters live across the park from each other, meet up during the day, and leave each other to go home in the evenings. Events occur where they can no longer find each other, and so the story continues.

Gameplay

The puzzles within this game are both challenging and frustrating at times, but highly addictive. I flew through some levels, while my other half struggled with them, and visa versa, so it all very much depends on how your mind perceives the ideas created with each puzzle. The levels have different elements to help you solve them; certain corners help you defy gravity in every direction, blocks help you link paths together or create lifts, and little monsters that look a bit like cows can offer you a ride.

I have to admit, even with the aid of the hint for each level, found in the menu screen, some really did stump me for a very long time. Some, on the other hand, were a far too easy, and I felt completely proud of myself for my sophisticated puzzle solving skills.

As you travel through each level your aim is to reunite the two characters, which are at opposite ends of the puzzle. You can swap between either ilo or milo to aid each of them with various parts of the level until you find a way to bring them together. In doing so creates a cute little dance scene. Certain items are scattered around to collect during your progress; Polaroid pictures unlock concept art, vinyl discs unlock music scores, and then… then there are the Safkas. The Safkas are miniature versions of ilo and milo, and when found follow your two characters around. There are three to collect in each level, and some are hard to reach, or trapped by a cage that hops around. They also wear hats. At each stage of the game, the amount of Safkas you save unlock bonus levels, which have their own mini-stories and Easter-egg surprises within them.

Each level is also covered with little flowers on each square that, when collected, fill up a meter in the top-left of the screen. When full, a section of memory will appear in the form of letters to and from Ilona and Milton. It is both adorable yet tragic, and really brings the title into different realms, other than a simple puzzle game.

There is one character though, that I am yet to mention: Sebastian. He pops up pretty much when he feels like it, to offer what he calls ‘advice’, but really just belittles our endearing duo. He is rather full of himself, and rides on what looks like a fly. He does tell some great stories however.

Although an arcade game, there is definitely longevity and repeat playability. There are four stages, each with nine levels and three bonus levels, and a final level, totalling 49 puzzles to complete. I have finished the storyline, but there are still a few challenges I have to go back to. Once you have reunited ilo and milo, an arcade game (within the arcade game) is unlocked, which is quite a lot of fun too, so keep an eye out for that.

Graphics

As arcade games go, this is at the top of the list for graphics. It is beautiful to say the least. Each cube of every level looks lovingly textured, made to look like folded paper. Both characters move with a delightful waddle that only penguins have truly perfected, and although the controls are sometimes finicky with direction it is not something that overloads annoyance.

The graphics are simple, adorable, artistic and squishy (if that’s an adjective that can be used for game design). The developers have even played on the idea of aging ilo and milo in one puzzle, pixelating them into 8bit designs of their former selves. Sebastian’s ‘have you lost a few bits along the way’ joke was rather witty.

Audio

Again, I cannot really fault this element either. The music is adorable yet often discordant and quirky. It adds yet another layer of beauty to this game that you must hear in full to really admire.

My favourite of all the ilomilo achievements came in the form of playing along to the intro music, using the menu as an instrument. As you scroll down the options, a sound is produced, and if pressed at the right time with the correct rhythm you can play along with the song. It takes a few attempts, but is yet another idiosyncratic component that makes this game a joy to play.

Overall

Part of me wants to throw up from how sickeningly sweet this game is, and the other part of me wants more to top up my sugar rush. Ilomilo really can appeal to nearly any gamer, with its cute story line, excellent graphics, moreish puzzles and witty banter. Ok… maybe not something that crazy ‘nothing but CoD’ players will be into, but the vast majority of you out there should give this a crack. It’s a great little pick up and play title, and isn’t so ridiculously hard to make your brain explode but has just enough kick to make sure you think each level over.

Review: ilomilo Results