Plus XP

Knowing I was going to play this game, I was admittedly sceptical as “cutie cutie” games don’t really interest me and I find them to be uninteresting and unappealing. However, Adorables does exactly what it says on its colourfully packaged user interface; it’s simply adorable. The multi-coloured stars, the cheerful menu music and gentle sound effects make it a bundle of warm, cuddly joy. But how adorable is the game itself? Well I’ll tell you.

You’re in control of 5 small creatures called Ruffle, Ping, Mu, Syd and Sneaker (yes again, they’re adorable). The gameplay is very basic and in the opening level you receive brief tutelage in the form of 4 pictures that show you how to accomplish your goal in each level. In each brief level you have to collect 7 rainbows of differing colours to obtain the rainbow for the level, whilst also bumping your manoeuvrable ball into several smaller balls that turn different colours. You must bump into all the balls before being allowed to hit them again. This process must be completed 3 times for the level to end with the rainbows being optional.

In order to do this, you must press on your ball to launch it into the air whereby you keep applying intermittent spells of pressure to keep it in the air; making it ascend and descend. You can then navigate it around the screen by tilting your phone from left to right.

In reality, the concept is far basic than it sounds and after adjusting to the mechanics after the first level, I found the game to be surprisingly enjoyable. You have a time limit from the moment you touch your ball and you can gain additional time from random clocks that appear, these are crucial to giving you more time if you’re possibly struggling and wanting to achieve a better combo.

As you progress through the levels the game difficulty slowly increases. Starting out as an empty screen with nothing but the balls and rainbows, by level 12 you’re trying to move around a tight-knit environment with moving obstacles and 7 balls to crash into! But the challenge is still fun and the difficulty increase feels fair and never jumps straight into the extreme.

The audible element to the game is so delightful though that I can’t praise it enough. The casual strokes of harps, the tinkering of chimes, the xylophone instrumental throughout is nice and it’s capped off nicely with maraca’s and contributions from a choir. If you ever need a happy place to go to then I would honestly suggest you plug your headphones into your phone, don’t play the game and just listen to the looping music over and over as you will never tire from its enchanting tone. I went to the extent of letting someone else listen to the music alone without playing the game and they wholeheartedly agreed the music is quite beautiful.

I almost feel guilty as I smash into one of the walls at top speed as you can hear the character let out a distressing call or I feel happy as conversely they will make cute sounds reminiscent of the popular online feline; Simon’s Cat.

For all its dashing qualities and delightfulness, the game has imperfections too. The game has dull cardboard backgrounds which aren’t really nice to look and they’re rather ugly in comparison to an otherwise enjoyable score.

I didn’t particularly enjoy the wait between levels either. It breaks the momentum and enjoyability of the music as you’re sat staring at a lifeless, although colourful, screen.

Despite the minor flaws this is a really fun game that can capture a heart almost instantly. I could compliment the soundtrack till my voice is hoarse, the gameplay is more than enough to keep you entertained and the game felicitates success with even more bright colours!

Pros:
+ Bright colourful palette
+ Fun, different gameplay
+ Incredibly addictive soundtrack

Cons:
– Slow load times break concentration
– Dull cardboard levels with limited appeal

8/10