Cute Things Dying Violently - A Review of Where Cute Things Go to Die
That is my reaction to this simple but cool little indie game made by Apathy Works known as Cute Things Dying Violently or CTDV for short. The game has you think slightly about life choices and dilemmas as you sacrifice one to save many, but which exact clone do you toss to the grinder, spikes, fire, electricity or the bombs? The developers of this game and anyone who plays it are going to have a rough next life.
How can you turn down a game with a Synopsis like this? "Hey kids! Do you like failure? Are you suspicious of success? Do you smile at the thought of "accidental" electrocution? Then boy have we got the game for you!" and only $3 USD on Steam.The aim of the game is to grab and fling these little guys to safety, you need to only save one, but I found myself trying to save as many as I could of the little chubby Moguai (Yes that's what I'm calling them). First and foremost this is a puzzle game much like the classic Lemmings and the more recent Flockers mixed with Angry Birds, but those games don't have an over the top theme of blood and gore, yes this game is gory but it is so good! Mwahahaha. (That was an evil laugh -you try and do better in text)
When you first load up the game and browse around the main menu it feels like it's going to be a lot of fun. You are hit by cheery music which doesn't prepare you for the psychological horror you are about to endure. On the other hand, the text form is that of toilet/adult humour, which I found enjoyable. Such as when you hover your cursor over the play button a message pops up reading "Play with yourself. In a socially acceptable manner" Things like this made me chuckle and is a great way to draw people like myself in who enjoy this type of humour.The game play is rather simple where you use your cursor to select either items or one of your clueless and innocent "Moguai" and fling them toward an objective, away from danger or toward danger in order to obtain an objective to get the others out to safety. You are able to select one of the Moguai at a time and drag him along the level that he is on, nothing higher and nothing lower. To get him to an entirely new part of the puzzle area you must click and hold then drag your mouse in the opposite direction to where you want him to go this is where it is much like Angry Birds. You release and send the poor bugger flying and/or sliding towards either victory or demise. Items are used in the same manner to this, but they don't walk around on their own.
There is a type of mini boss that shows up in some of the levels known as the 'HATE-BOT' and it is introduced in a level called "The HATE-BOT is pissed!" This character will drop bombs and has saw blades spinning around him to try and prevent you flinging the Moguai to safety. He is on rails though as far as I have seen, so this makes the fights a bit easier but still difficult. Who knows, it may remove the rails later or make us avoid several obstacles and the bot himself. These boss encounters had me thinking of ways to manipulate both the bot and the Moguai in such a way that would ensure me the safety of a majority of the little fellas.I have put a couple of hours into this game which is enough time for me to get into the later stages of the game. The puzzles start requiring you to use items, buttons and rebounding the little guys to achieve the end goal. It's a very small download and is amazingly fun and addictive, I found myself playing it whenever I had a spare moment to myself. 'One more level' was the last thing I remember as I looked at the clock once again half an hour and 3 levels later.
All in all I believe this game to be a hit in my books. Fun gameplay and humour mixed into one simple yet well done game, pound for pound this game is worth the couple of dollars it asks for.Thanks for the read
-Reprimere-