ilomilo (Xbox 360)

Cutesy visuals, lively soundtrack, and surprisingly challenging puzzles.

Your goal in ilomilo is to help ilo and milo navigate their way through the park to meet for tea. Every day (i.e. level) the park changes and creates a new puzzle to navigate. The levels are loaded with collectible little bits (CDs, Safkas, etc.) and often require a few replays to get a full clear.

Players solve puzzles by switching between ilo and milo and working at the puzzle from both sides. This mechanic becomes very important in navigating the park and working around obstacles (like the bully whale who can only block in one direction).

ilomilo offers a variety of puzzle elements beyond the expected elevators, buttons, and moving platforms. Backpackable items, such as blocks and stretchy worms, can be carried and placed where needed. Aside from blocking your path, bully whales can sometimes be used as elevators. Magic carpets and trapdoor cubes allow ilo (or milo) to move to another side of a cube (along with a disorienting change in camera angle ~_^).

Unfortunately, ilomilo didn't offer the sort of coop we were expecting. The 'coop' mechanic is turn based (one player controls ilo and the other controls milo). In many levels the inactive player had to wait far too long for their turn. The inactive player's limited ability to point at objects wasn't nearly engaging enough. The funnest part of coop for us were the drummer and trumpeter the inactive player could summon to bug the active player to switch control. Players could achieve similar 'coop' results by simply passing a single remote between them.

Overall, ilomilo is extremely adorable and offers a good single player experience. Players looking for an active coop experience will likely be unsatisfied (try the demo first).

Summary:

• + rated 'E for everyone'
• + variety of puzzle elements
• + lively soundtrack and visuals
• + difficulty scales up quickly
• • not what we would consider 'coop'
• - 'coop' is slow and unbalanced between players
• - can become tiresome when stuck/retrying

ilomilo is available for Xbox 360 Live Arcade, WinPhone, and Windows 8.