Книга: Zeptolab, Cut the rope «Cut the Rope. НР 14057 ( НР 14146). Наклей и раскрась!»

Cut the Rope is an award-winning physics-based puzzle video game for handheld gaming platforms. It was developed in 2010 by Russian developers ZeptoLab and is published by Chillingo.^[1] On iOS, it uses the Crystal and Game Center social networking services. On Android, it uses Scoreloop social networking services. In 2011, it was followed by a sequel, Cut the Rope: Experiments, published by ZeptoLab themselves.

History

Cut the Rope

On 4 October 2010 "Cut the Rope" for iOS was made available through the App Store. A native (HD) version for the iPad^[2] was released on 6 October 2010. This was followed by the release of a free version with fewer levels for each device on the next day, called Cut the Rope Lite and Cut the Rope HD Lite respectively.

Nine days after its release, the game had been purchased one million times and risen to the top of the App Store's charts. According to Chillingo, this made it the fastest-selling iOS game to reach that number of sales.^[1] As of December 2010, it had been purchased three million times.^[3]

The Android version was released in June 2011.^[4]

The DSiWare version was released in September 2011 for Europe and November 2011 for North America on Nintendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS systems.^[5]

Cut the Rope: Experiments

On 4 August 2011, ZeptoLab published Cut the Rope: Experiments, the sequel to Cut the Rope.^[6] While its gameplay and presentation closely matches that of Cut the Rope, it introduces some new gameplay elements.

Gameplay

A level of Cut the Rope. The candy floats in a bubble, which can be popped with a touch or blown to the right with the blue bellows. The red button reverses the direction of gravity.

The object of each level is to manoeuver a piece of candy into the mouth of a green cartoon frog called "Om Nom". The candy hangs by one or several of the titular ropes which the player can cut with a swipe of their finger, and can also be manipulated through other objects including bellows and floating bubbles.^[2] Each level pack introduces new objects.

The other objectives are to pick up up to three stars per level by touching them with the candy, to keep the candy within the box, and to avoid spike and electricity hazards. Levels are scored with zero to three stars, according to how many the player picked up, and also with a point score depending on the number of stars collected and the time required for the completion of the level.

Level packs

Cut the Rope

Cut the Rope groups content in "boxes" containing 25 levels each, which are occasionally added through updates. These include:

• Cardboard Box: included with the original release, October 2010
• Fabric Box: included with the original release, October 2010
• Foil Box: included with the original release, October 2010
• Gift Box: included with the original release, October 2010
• Cosmic Box: added December 2010
• Holiday Gift Box: released as a separate, free game entitled Cut The Rope: Holiday Gift in December 2010
• Valentines Box: added February 2011
• Magic Box: added April 2011
• Toy Box: added July 2011
• Tool Box: added October 2011

Cut the Rope: Experiments

The sequel, Cut the Rope: Experiments, groups 25 levels each into "experiments". These include:

• Getting Started: included with the original release, August 2011
• Shooting the Candy: included with the original release, August 2011
• Sticky Steps: included with the original release, August 2011
• New gameplay element – the Rocket: added November 2011

Reception

In addition to its commercial success, Cut the Rope was very well received by critics. As of July 2011, the aggregator website Metacritic lists an aggregated score of 93 based on 14 reviews, which it rates as "universal acclaim".^[7] IGN praised the game for having "the addictive qualities of Angry Birds – great puzzles, near-perfect use of touch controls, and cute personality".^[10] Gamespot described it as "fresh, challenging, gorgeous, and highly entertaining", while noting that the game's elements are occasionally difficult to control precisely.^[9]

At WWDC 2011, Cut the Rope won an Apple Design Award for the iOS platform.^[14] In March 2011, it won the 7th British Academy Video Games Awards in the "Handheld" category, the first iOS game to do so.^[15]

Comic book series

In July 2011, Zepto Lab and comics publisher Ape Entertainment announced that a comic book series will be published as a stand-alone app. The comics will tell the backstory of the candy-eating monster, Om Nom, and introduce new characters.^[15]

External links

• "Cut the Rope" on the publisher's website

References