Ilomilo: Cute but still smart

Despite sounding like the name of the trendiest new cocktail to hit London bars, or perhaps the location of the latest hit tourist spot in the Balkans, _ilomilo _is in fact the latest arcade game from Swedish game house SouthEnd Interactive. Ilo and Milo are the protagonists: little egg-shaped blobs of fur (with inevitable cute little faces and arms, of course) that somehow keep losing each other amongst the crazy floating world they inhabit. The player’s task is simple: reunite them! You control one of the pair at a time, moving around, picking up blocks and switching between to the other at will. Action takes place on floating levels of cubes suspended in crazy, cute worlds where gravity and physics are seemingly disregarded in favour of gravity-reversing trapdoors, a strange creature addicted to apples and a little man who rides a beetle. Or possibly a flying dog.

Puzzles make up the core of the game and thankfully it’s the thing that _ilomilo _does best. Ilo and Milo will often appear on different platforms and at different angles to each other, and helping them to meet can only be achieved through a subtle use of the moveable blocks and the physics-defying ‘carpets’ that swap the little protagonists between different sides of the cubes they’re standing on. Working out what to do to reunite the two titular characters is a lot of fun, and it’s certainly satisfying when a well-formulated plan comes to fruition. However, even though it’s doesn’t take long to figure out what to do, the levels can still take a fair while to complete – mainly due to having to go back and forth to move blocks – which sometimes gets a tiny bit tedious.

It’s clear that particular attention has been paid to helping players to grasp what’s going on and understand new concepts, which is something that makes _ilomilo _a particularly relaxing (rather than the usual frustrating) puzzle game. The level design is exemplary as it introduces new concepts in a fantastically intuitive way that stops new blocks and the gravity-bending levels from getting too confusing. Someone who catches on quickly will definitely find the first chapter a bit of a slow start, but the levels get more difficult later on and the bonus levels, which are unlocked after collecting enough of the mini-lookalikes in the story levels, provide a serious challenge simply through their scale even for an experienced puzzler. Later levels are also kept fresh by the addition of new blocks and ‘enemies’, and these aren’t just gimmicks – the new elements are used well and often to great effect.

Indeed, the level design is just one reason that _ilomilo _is a technically excellent title. The controls are very intuitive and only very rarely do either Ilo or Milo end up doing something that the player didn’t intend. The camera, which is often a neglected or rushed element particularly in 3D arcade titles, does the job very well. It’s also the little details: when the camera moves behind the scenery a little ‘peephole’ appears so you can still see what’s going on without ruining the visuals – it’s clear that a lot of effort has been put in to make the game easy to play. SouthEnd have also been very careful to make sure that ilomilo never becomes disorientating – as Ilo and Milo stand on opposite sides of the same platform with a general ignorance of any applicable laws of physics, it’s a testament to the design that the human brain can still even understand who is where and what needs to be moved how.

The game is also gorgeous to look at; the surroundings to each level are packed with other floating oddities, like a child’s toy windmill, clock towers and even fish, all sewn together in a patchwork style that is very reminiscent of LittleBigPlanet. More critically, in keeping with the ilomilo ethic, the artwork never gets in the way of the puzzles; the different blocks and things in the level are on the whole distinguishable from each other. It’s simply there for when you’re ready to tilt the analogue sticks back and take a good long look at the world, at which point of course, it comes into its own and fits with the rest of the game perfectly.

But for all the great elements to ilomilo, there are unfortunately some bad ones. There is the classic ‘deep and emotional’ indie-style plot which remains completely detached from the gameplay, and its effect on the game is so small as to be virtually pointless. Co-op multiplayer also makes an appearance; each player controls either llo or Milo but only one is ‘active’ at any time, in a similar way to the single-player game. With no way to control both simultaneously, all this mode really eliminates is the need to physically pass the controller around. Combine this with the fact that there are no new co-op levels – the single player chapters are simply recycled – and you end up with a co-op mode that is entirely a waste of time.

Co-op also partly fails because there is simply no replay value to ilomilo. The puzzles aren’t really fun to complete again since most of the satisfaction is derived from not knowing what to do to solve the puzzle. There are bonus items to collect, but it’s perfectly possible to get them all the first time you enter a level. Indeed, this is certainly a strong point – you can’t break the levels and no matter how many blocks you shuffle around the puzzle will always remain solvable.

It cannot be denied that _ilomilo _is a joy to play. Completing puzzles is irrefutably fun and there’s a certain attraction that keeps you playing all the way to the end, with the game’s technical excellence and cute visuals doing their most to both help you along and not get in your way. It’s a truth that anyone could pick up this charming arcade title and, despite its flaws, they would almost certainly enjoy it.

ilomilo is available now from SouthEnd Interactive and Microsoft Games Studios from the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points and on Windows Phone 7 for £3.99.