Little Inferno

World of Goo was an outstanding game that had an interesting subplot and a mixture of clever physic based puzzles and a charming atmosphere. If you go into Little Inferno thinking you are going to get the same experience you will be disappointed, Little Inferno is not that difficult and some people would question whether it is even a video game, but if you know what to expect going in then you will discover one of the most original games that you can get for your new Wii U system.

As soon as you start you are put in front of the Little Inferno, the Little Inferno is a fireplace developed by the Tomorrow Corporation. You use it by putting toys into it and then setting them alight, once it has burnt up coins will come out of it. You use these coins to buy more toys in catalogs that you have, the new toys show up and then you burn them and the process repeats itself until the very end of the game.

If what i said to you sounds repetitive and tedious, it is not. It is highly addicting in which the way it is set up. Each time you buy a toy in the catalog the next toy is unlocked and able to be purchased. So they are unlocked at a very fast rate and each toy will do a different thing when mixed with fire. Once you reach the end of a catalog you can't progress onto the next one until you have done enough combo's.

There are 99 combo's in the game, the only clue you get is the name of the combo. The first one is called "Bike Pirate", to get that combo all you need is the toy pirate and the toy bike and then wallah, combo unlocked. They do get rather clever though and you'll fine great enjoyment in experimenting with the different toys to try and get a new combo.

Each time you buy a toy there is waiting period, the cheaper the toy the quicker it arrives. Some of the more expensive ones will take minutes to arrive where as the cheap ones can take as long as 10 seconds. You want to really always be burning toys, the more toys you burn at the same time the more money you get. Every time you get a combo a few tickets will drop down as well as some coins, if you want to get a toy instantly instead of waiting for however long for it to arrive, you can pay a few tickets to get it to arrive. The game can be played either on the Gamepad or with a Wiimote, it works fine with both but I found myself playing with it more on the gamepad.

Throughout the game you are sent letters from people in the outside world, aside from one dark but humorous advertisement for the Little Inferno this is how the plot is told. You get letters quite frequently and through the letters you surprisingly get attached to one particular sender. The game takes a dark turn towards the end and it really is an emotional moment. The game succeeds in it's humour, each toy has a little description and most of the time its very witty. The letters you receive are well done and on the whole are spot on and you will look forward to future letters.

Then at the very end of the game everything is revealed and without spoiling the ending let me just say it is one of the best endings I have seen in a video game this year. The way the plot is told reminds me very much of Journey, slowly trickled out but never given too much information, always wanting more answers but instead get more questions.

The game has a very charming sense of style, it's art style resembles that of World of Goo and a little bit of Rem and Stimpy/Tim Burton. I don't wish to spoil the ending, but I will say that you will appreciate how good the game looks at the end portion of the game. There isn't much music in the game, but the music that there is fits perfectly into what it is trying to represent.

Some people may question the price vs length of Little Inferno, it's currently £12.99 and the game lasted about 4 hours which was me completing the game 100%. The end result I thought was worth the price of admission, those that question the price are the same people that questioned the price of Journey and Journey is one of the best games this year.

For those people that don't see why people like games like Journey and Flower and think there a waste of money, you should not purchase Little Inferno. For those that are willing to take quality over quantity however I cannot recommend Little Inferno enough.