There's always more to these games.

Not always. I still feel like Noby Noby Boy was a bit of wasted potential. Some might argue that having developers set up artificial goals isn't needed, but I think having goals and working towards them and solving things in your path to them and yada yada is a huge part of the appeal of a game.

WE'LL SEE. I do like that there is apparently a Henry Hatsworth cameo. Awesome!

I've got a ton of work to do and am going to be out of town for Thanksgiving on Wednesday through Friday... so I can't decide if I should wait a week for Little Inferno or get it tonight. I hate starting a game and then taking a long break before beating it.

Bah, who am I kidding? This is my most anticipated game of the year. I'll get it tonight.

...Probably.

Man, the eShop games are kind of pricey! Nano Assault Neo and Trine 2 are super-beautiful, though.

The videos on the Wii U Shop are actually very nice. Fast streaming, good quality.

Is Rayman the only demo up there at the moment?

Really enjoying this so far. It feels just like World of Goo.

Are you guys playing this on the Gamepad or TV? My TV isn't HD, so I'm going to be playing on the Gamepad. It looks soooo much better!

It "feels" like World of Goo visually, musicwise, etc.

I've played for a bit though and... is it really just burning stuff? With no real goals? I think this could potentially get old, fast.

Burn it. Burn it all down.

Sounds like my kind of game .

Is this a 2D Boy game? I watched the video and it looks just like World of Goo, the art at least.

Yes, it is 2D Boy along with the creator of Henry Hatsworth.

I played a bit more yesterday and... you keep burning stuff. It's strange. I mean, there isn't much actual gameplay to speak of other than "keep buying new stuff to put in your fireplace" and "burn the right stuff together for a combo". I suspect a lot of people looking for some kind of follow-up to World of Goo may end up pretty disappointed.

And yet it is certainly an experience. Everything burns differently, so you want to keep pushing forward to see what is next. And there is a kind of running back and forth mail thing going on that contains what I guess you could call the story of the game, with hints to something beyond the warm glow of the fire.

The warm glow... of... the fire...

I've heard there are "twists" later on, not sure if that is referring to gameplay or story or what...

Did I really say I'd review this game? It's a difficult one to pin down, that is for sure.

I don't want to post this other review because because it's uber negative and I'm not sure it needs more hits, but I've been reading some other Little Inferno reviews and man, scores are all over the place. And I just just mean in the ZombiU way where even the lowest scores seem to be 5/10s and such. I mean some people are trashing it and calling it one of the worst "games" they have ever played, yada yada. I definitely disagree. But I did call it. It's clearly not going to be for everyone.

Anyway so reading this one review and I'm thinking... why do people like writing like this? Like basically taking a piss on someone else's work? Even if I'm going to review a game I dislike, I'm going to point out the things I dislike in a rational way. Anyway, here are some of the comments from said review:

Doesn’t that sound fun? Of course it doesn’t, because you’re not a 4-year-old impressed by lighting bugs on fire with a magnifying glass. And if you are, well, playing with bugs in the sandbox is more enticing that playing this tripe.

Breaking News: No one gives a shit.

Little Inferno is a waste of time and space

That's all from the same review. I mean, I get that he didn't like it, but why be so aggressive in your condemnation? Also:

The world is cold, so you need to burn your toys. That’s about as deep as the story gets

This is just patently false.

@Zero

Is that a user review or a professional review? Because if that's professional, that reviewer doesn't need to keep their job.

I mean, I didn't care for Mutant Mudds as much as some people did, but I don't think I took a piss on it, you know?

The game obviously just went straight over the guys head, everything I have seen from the delays in getting items, the catalogues, coins and letters all points to an underlying narrative that is there but doesn't beat you over the head with needless exposition. Bringing up Heavy Rain for comparison and saying I don't just play mature games because I love Skylanders didn't help his cause either.

@ludist210 Tough to say. I honestly find it difficult to draw a line between user and professional reviews, especially since I run a site where we purposely blur the line. Is a professional just someone who gets paid?! He looked like an official reviewer for the site, but who knows.

Honestly, I suspected that I would be on the high end of reviews and I knew this game would get some low scores. Because it's definitely one that you either get or you don't, and even if you get it you might find it boring. But I'm surprised at some of the WORST GAME EVER reviews.

@warerare About the delays though, you get tickets (pretty liberally) that let you get instant delivery and it is only the later catalogs where items take a minute and more to ship. Plus you can get into a rhythm where you buy some stuff, and then look around and see what combos you can try to "solve" while waiting for stuff to come, etc. If you're sitting around waiting all the time it is probably your choice.

I'd almost suspect that he hadn't played much of the game other than the fact that the long waits don't come until later. Then again, I suspect a lot of reviewers who don't want to finish games just look stuff up online and parrot it.

Zero said:

He looked like an official reviewer for the site, but who knows.

That's more what I meant. Note to self: don't visit that website.

I can't for the life of me solve "Deadly Vices." I know that the Puff Pack is one of the items, but I can't figure out the other two. I've tried pairing the beer and pills with it like a billion times. Then eventually I thought, wait, what if they mean "vices" like "grips?" But that doesn't make sense, because the Puff Pack has to be one of the three items. Then I though maybe the Seven Deadly Sins have something to do with it, but again, how does the Puff Pack fit into those? Could anyone give me a very vague hint to get me on the right track?

"Diseased" is giving me trouble too. I'm thinking it's the Book of Darkness, the Locust Eggs, and something ice-related. Ten Plagues of Egypt. Don't know why I'm getting so religious all of a sudden. Oooh, maybe the snake can would work? I tried the Leperchaun with a few things, and that didn't seem to work.

I have 11 left that I haven't figured out yet and I those are 2 of them. Sometimes the solutions are not what you expect. For instance, "Cold War" doesn't use the freeze bomb.

@Zero

Is it worth it to just finish the game and then go back and solve them?

Tough to answer, because I have no idea what happens when you solve them all, nor do I have any idea if it changes the ending or not (I suspect not, but who knows?)

Without spoiling anything... the end of the game is awesome though.

Just beat the game! The ending was... a little underwhelming. Kind of felt like the game suddenly turned into Willy Wonka at the end. I just feel like I knew everything that this game was going to do before I played it. Towards the end when they're talking about the Sun and not knowing if it's rising or setting, that was pretty cool, but they didn't really follow up on it. I guess they're saying that the future is bright... hopefully?

When the gatekeeper was telling you how "you'll never not know what's behind those gates ever again...", I started to get hyped, but then, again, the reveal was a letdown. Sugar Plump's final letter was kind of interesting though. The whole "this can't last forever" theme still has me thinking about what they could have meant by that.

The best moment in the game for me was when Sugar Plumps' house burned down. That completely took me by surprise and had me legitimately creeped out.

I might go back and get all the combos. Maybe not. "Never go back..."