ilomilo might be the cutest most brain-racking puzzle game of all time. Take two adorable little creatures they are destined to be together, separate them and then task the player with reuniting them. Thats the name of the game here and while that might sound easy its way easier said then done.
The game starts off with little in the way of story. ilo and milo are friends and for some reason everytime they woke up they were apart from each other. The player will navigate both characters in order to get through devilishly clever puzzles. Whoever crafted some of these levels at SouthEnd Interactive are fiends of the mind and ilomilo will break the way you come about puzzle solving, especially if you don't pan out with the camera to look at everything. The game masks these difficult puzzles with cute creatures and frighteningly easy-to-accidentally-memorize music. It's almost like I'm being brainwashed.
There's a bit more to ilomilo then that though. As you progress you'll be tasked with reuniting Safkas (smaller versions of ilomilo), collecting what I think are cookie star things, gallery items and unlocking ilo and milo's lost memories. It's not really brain surgery here trying to grasp the story but it doesn't need to be. The beauty is in it's simplicity and hidden under the vail: more difficult puzzles as you progress.
Most of these puzzles revolve around navigating different planes of gravity, moving different kinds of blocks with varying effects and guiding apple eating hippo dog monster things. The environments they take place in are equally interesting. It's neat to just look around at all the things beyond the scope of the puzzle, the background work as it were. The music is brilliant and really, I've never been so relaxed playing a game. Again, I might be getting brainwashed here.
ilomilo also features couch co-op which is a very nice addition to this sort of game. After completing the main story there is a shuffle mode that is unlocked for the player. At the completion of every level you'll see your results and how well you did on average with the rest of the Xbox Live community. Just don't feel insulted.
ilomilo is a adorable, relaxing and brain-twisting puzzler that should keep puzzle fans interested for some time. I give it 4.5 out of 5. Now to back track and get all those Safkas...
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