Cut the Rope 2 (for Android) Review

Some of the biggest games of the past five years have been mobile games, but developers struggle to rise above one-hit-wonder status. Not so for ZeptoLab, which score another big win with Cut the Rope 2 (free). This follow-up to the hugely successful mobile physics puzzler manages to deliver a clever spin on its core concept. It's not as innovative as Angry Birds Space, but new characters and hundreds of new puzzles make for a lot of prime time-wasting.

I really enjoyed my time with Cut the Rope 2, which outshines other time sucks like Candy Crush Saga, but I left the game with a slightly sour taste in my mouth. If it weren't for the pesky video ads, Cut the Rope 2 would be a much better choice for old and young Android gamers alike.

The Game
As in the first installment, your goal is to cut various ropes that will eventually deliver a swirly candy to Om Nom—the snaggle-toothed quadruped protagonist who looks like a cross between an alligator and a crab apple. He's adorable. But simply feeding him isn't enough: You'll need to use the candy to capture stars, too if you want to progress through all 210 levels. The game's cartoonish style looked great on my Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, and its lush soundtrack really pulled me in.

A physics puzzler at heart, you have to make use of the environment and employ clever timing to complete your goal. For instance, in one level the candy was secured to two balloons and two logs. I had to pop them in a particular order to manipulate them around clumps of leaves to snag all the stars before finally cutting the rope and depositing the candy into Om Nom's bottomless gullet. Success!

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The most noticeable additions in this sequel are Om Nom's five colorful cartoon companions. Some, like Roto and Boo, can actually get Om Nom to move his stubby legs and take different positions on the screen. Each is introduced in short cartoon vignettes throughout the game, which break things up nicely as you progress across along its Candy Land-esque path.

The Money
Mobile developers have a lot of clever tricks to make money from a free game, and Cut the Rope 2 has them all. Premium currency? You bet. In-app purchases? Many and manifold. A power system that limits your play? Yes indeedy. At first, I was pleasantly surprised that these all seemed well balanced. For example, Cut the Rope 2 lets you watch cute cartoons or video ads to earn more plays in addition to buying them.

I was also surprised by how desirable the in-app purchases were. These included fancy swipe animations that follow your finger on the screen, and hats for Om Nom that increase your total number of plays. This is in stark contrast to the $50 carts in Angry Birds Go, which has the same stats as the freebies.

Eventually, however, Cut the Rope 2 goes too far. In addition to optional video ads and occasional static ads (for other ZeptoLab titles), your screen is occasionally hijacked by obnoxious video ads. There appear to not be many of these as I only encountered two in the twelve levels I played. They might even be skippable, but I was too bewildered at being shown an ad for dog food in the middle of my game to find a way. That's pretty ridiculous, considering all the other monetization avenues in the game. Cut the Rope 2's (mercifully easy to understand) privacy policy does collect some information from your device, transmitting it via a secure SSL connection. It's not clear what specific information, if any, is shared with third-party advertisers—a common tactic to monetize free apps. Cut the Rope 2 appears to at least be COPA compliant, requiring you to enter your age before you play.

Does it Cut It?
I haven't played the original, but I enjoyed my time with Cut the Rope 2. It's a well-crafted game with challenging play in a fun atmosphere. The music and visuals are top-notch in candy-colored kind of way, and they really grabbed my attention in a way I didn't expect. The levels are also surprisingly clever, and I felt really good about beating them.

I was even impressed with the monetization system which seemed well balanced and reasonable, but surprise-attack full-screen video ads are just too much. ZeptoLab has a right to make money from their product; something this high-quality clearly took a lot of effort and investment. But I'm disappointed that the developers fell back on such a crass tactic when they clearly worked hard to make a great game and a solid monetization system to boot. The game would earn an easy Editors' Choice for family-friendly Android games, but not as long as I have to worry about watching dog food commercials instead of cutting ropes.