Since for many iPhone users this is a first encounter with Little Things, I’ll explain what there is to explain.
Each game presents player with a familiar form made up of hundreds of tiny clip art images of objects ranging from lollipops to laptops. Each puzzle is brightly colored with a small and appropriate color palette and the individual items that make up the collage follow suit. Players can pinch to zoom, which cleanly rescales everything.
Because there are no leaderboards, stats, nor even time limits, players simply strive to earn at least an “OK” score to garner a jigsaw puzzle piece. When enough are collected a mini puzzle game starts where players must align four square pieces to find the hidden image, made up of – you know what’s coming – even more tiny pictures.
Successful completion opens a new level of play. And, trying for “Excellent” results adds more replay value than one would expect.
This makes the fact that Little thing Forever offers nothing new in terms of gameplay from it’s original iteration not only acceptable, but a welcome relief. Far too many sequels focus on adding too many new and often superfluous elements losing the charm of the original title in the process. Forget something new; think of this app as book two in a series of what I hope will be many more.
Little Things Forever won’t appeal to those who like tons of action or marauding zombies, but for the mellower solving set and as a family activity it’s a delight. It’s also the rare game where I urge you to turn the volume up – even the music makes for a wonderfully addictive experience.