Tiny Places Review

Anyone that has seen the long sticky tongue of a chameleon in action in any of the countless nature documentaries on the subject has probably mused to themselves about how useful such a long sticky tongue could be. In all reality though, such a tongue would probably cause more trouble than it solved. Not so for little Napoleon, a chameleon with a very strong tongue that he uses to help get himself out of small, boxed in spaces. Think Cut the Rope, but instead of feeding a small green creature living in a box, the player is helping another kind of small green creature escape from a tiny box. Hence the name of this game, Tiny Places.

And just how does one escape a box by use of only a long sticky tongue? With screws, of course! As painful as this might sound, it's in fact a very simple process. Napoleon uses his tongue to grasp screws that are placed strategically around the walls of the box in which he is trapped. By pulling Napoleon and then releasing him, players launch the little lizard from screw to screw until they can launch him out of the box via a convenient (and sometimes not so convenient) hole in the box. On the way to the exit hole, players can also collect starflies (something like a cuter version of a firefly) to increase their scores.

Various puzzling elements come into play as the player progresses from level to level. In some levels, the players will need to change the color of the chameleon's skin before he can attach himself to screws of that same color. Other times, players may have to bounce, drop, or slide Napoleon past obstacles in order to reach the hole. The level designs are clever and the environments are whimsical and fun. Still, there are some instances where finishing a level is made more difficult by finicky controls and cramped quarters.

For a casual game, Tiny Places can get more frustrating than most. That is not to say that it is a bad game. Usually the issues mentioned above only bog down the gameplay for a few minutes before the player moves on to the next level. The animation are super enjoyable and the faces that Napoleon makes and he jumps, falls, bounces and slides around are great. Players looking for a new casual game with some character should check it out.