Baby Nom Nom ($0.99) eats its way into my heart with superior level design and a knack for mind-bending puzzling. Developed by Playrise Digital Ltd., this delicious treat is among my favorites as it combines spatial reasoning with time-attack gameplay.
Nom Nom is a playful and cute puzzler that has the potential to be considered among the pantheon of Angry Birds and Bridgy jones in replay value and overall satisfaction; however, the limited amount of levels keeps me from going head-first into its tasty rice bowl (even if I loved the sample).
Utilizing awesomely responsive swipe gestures, the task is to fill an empty bowl with rice so that the adorable infant can feed his fat face. I find the physics of the rice incredibly cool as it flows like water but can be broken into individual grains that exhibit the same density and fluidity. The challenge arrives when guiding the food supply through a rotating maze of corridors, spiraled teleports, hot lava, and many other obstacles.
Moving the mass of rice is a practice of sheer skill or insurmountable aggravation as those wonderful grains may systematically become separated from spinning the maze. The rotating maze then quickly shifts success into a matter of odds: Can I save a grain without losing the rest of the rice? Or do I save the majority and sacrifice the few?
These two questions determined whether I received 2 or 3 stars and 98.7% or 100% level completion. Ultimately, the risk vs. reward process of manipulating the maze is a great method to learn better ways of saving rice.
Baby Nom Nom’s art style is cool and has some rough edges for its own uniqueness. Animations are rich and there never seems to be a hiccup with the graphical performance that would hinder the precision play. Each stage encompasses a look that is amusing and with a spirited originality that keeps the visuals lock & step with mind-bending gameplay.
What keeps Baby Nom Nom from the reachable pinnacle it should strangle is the limited amount of levels. Even though I sped through the app, I will come back for seconds, thirds, and more. To see how much the TA community ate it up, head over to the forums for more app delicacies.
