As digital video game releases continue to blossom, unique games are born that defy classification. Nintendo Wii U eShop title, “Little Inferno”, is one such title.
Technically a puzzle game, “Little Inferno” is unlike any puzzle game before it. It’s imaginative, addictive, and, yet, sadistic in an innocent manner. All the same, “Little Inferno” is a puzzle game that everyone should play because it is exceptionally distinctive and one of the best puzzle games of 2012.
Congratulations! You are now a proud owner of a Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace, so it’s time to unleash your inner pyro and burn some miscellaneous objects. Burning items is seemingly the entire concept behind “Little Inferno”, but there is so much more to it than that. By burning things, you will earn coins, which can then be used to buy product from catalogs that you will in turn burn in your fireplace.
Though that may sound straightforward enough, things do become more involved as you are given a combination list which provides vague hints of items you should burn together. All the game provides you with is a nondescript listing – Bike Pirate, for example. This is where the puzzle and addictive nature of the game comes into play as you try item combinations to solve the riddle.
You will unlock additional catalogs by discovering what items are needed to complete a combo requirement and expose extra combos to solve.
As you earn more catalogs and receive letters from game characters, you will slowly discover what is happening with the world outside your walls. It is an ingenious way to tell the story as it leaves you wondering what the next letter may share and reveal.
While there is much mystery to unravel within the world of “Little Inferno”, the game also delivers in-direct forms of fun. Lighting things on fire and making your own odd combinations can become time consuming as you throw a mini nuclear bomb, a mini moon, and party bus into the fireplace just to see the explosion or flame produced.
Those who target 100% combo list completion will find that the game lasts several hours. You will need to experiment with many possibilities before discovering the right combo. Everyone will get different mileage out of the game pending on how long it takes to solve a combo; time spent just burning objects for fun, or enjoying the soft glow of a comforting flame.
Those in it for primarily the story will get several hours of enjoyment.
Burning different items together to solve combos is creative, entertaining; yet relaxing as you sit by the hearth listening to the crackle of the fire. It may be a little overpriced for the content it offers, but “Little Inferno” is a remarkable experience that is certainly worth the price of admission.
“Little Inferno” is simple, yet enchanting.
Overall: 8.0/10
(Editor's Note: A game code was provided by Nintendo for review purposes. The game was completed for review -- a total of 15-hours have been spent in "Little Inferno" to date. "Little Inferno" is now available on the Nintendo eShop for digital purchase for the asking price of $14.99.)
