Cut the Rope 2 Review

Good til the last drop. 

Delightful sweet-toothed monster Om Nom is back, as are more wonderfully complex puzzles keeping him and his candy apart. Along for the ride is a whole slew of colorful new characters, the Nommies, who add extra depth to the tricky levels that each come complete with three stars to earn and extra goals to achieve. Even the microtransactions are cute this time around. Ultimately, the mix of intricate puzzles and delightful characters makes for a short but incredibly sweet journey.

Even though there are some new cuddly critters on the block, Om Nom is still the star of this show, and the candy-loving monster has never looked so animated and

charming as he does in his new customizable hats. Poking him makes him wiggle around, which is always enjoyable, and now he'll even watch as you figure out puzzle mechanics either above or below him. I also got quite a few laughs when he tumbled off cliffs with a "Wheeeee!" But it was seeing Om Nom swim for the first time that was hands-down my favorite new animation. It's utterly adorable.

His taste in puzzles hasn't changed much, though. As such, neither has the gameplay. Just like in the first Cut the Rope, navigating Om Nom through complex physics puzzles to reach his candy offers a great sense of accomplishment, and I felt like an absolute genius when I solved a few of them.

The main difference between this Cut the Rope and the last is Om Nom’s new friends, the Nommies. There are five total, each with their own set of levels and helpful puzzle mechanics to help get Om Nom his candy. My favorite is Blue, an apathetic Nommie compared to his cheerful counterparts. Touching Blue causes him to make replicas of himself that stack on top of each other until they all collapse into a heap that can be used as a bridge or ladder; mashing my finger to spawn as many Blues as I could was ridiculously amusing. Sometimes I spawned so many that they pushed Om Nom to his death (complete with a Wheeee!) but it was too silly to stop.

Figuring out new ways to take advantage of the Nommies’ abilities was satisfying, but it never really went anywhere from there. It generally takes five or so levels to get used to each Nommie, and since each section only has 20 quick levels, I never felt like I got enough time with the new creatures to really explore them.

Also, though there was clearly a lot of time spent on making the Nommies special, it's a shame they weren't used together more often. Using multiple Nommies on the same screen happens only a few times, and those are the levels that offer some of the most unique challenges. Figuring out how many Blues I needed to make fall onto the Lick Nommie, who makes bridges with his tongue, was significantly more enjoyable than similar levels where you're using planks and magnets. However, there's a bunch of "coming soon" notations sprinkled throughout, so we can expect more levels in the future. Perhaps paid DLC?

If you and your Nommie friends ever get stuck in a level, or if you're just looking to spice things up, there are a variety of cute and helpful aids you can purchase. The micro transactions range in price from $2 up to $50, but I didn’t buy any and got through the puzzles just fine. There's a friendly firefly who will show you how to get three-stars on a level, and another power-up that rains candy until you get three stars, but considering there isn't any penalty for failing and trying a level again they don't seem necessary or worth the price.

Even if you want to unlock a few extra-difficult bonus levels for each area, you'll have to shell out. Playing through 20 more quality levels will set you back five bucks. It’s not much, all things considered, yet blocking content behind these purchases is a bit maddening. But, since you do get 100 levels of content for the initial price of less than a dollar, it's hard to stay too angry. Especially at Om Nom.

Whizzing through Cut the Rope 2 is quick, and I was able to complete all the puzzles in only a couple hours. Luckily for those who want more reasons to come back and enjoy Om Nom and the Nommies, there are extra goals to achieve, such as the feat of getting three stars in each level, and this time around every level also has alternate goals (like earning a certain amount of points and getting no stars or finishing a level without cutting the rope) to improve replayability.