Cut The Rope 2 Swings Onto the iPhone and iPad

ZeptoLab has released Cut The Rope 2, the latest installment in the company's wildly popular franchise. Cut The Rope: Time Travel was released earlier this year, while Cut The Rope: Experiments came out in mid-2011. The original Cut The Rope won a 2011 Apple Design Award.

The new game follows the familiar theme set by the prior games, Om, the candy-loving creature, sees spiders trying to steal his candy, though there is a new cast of characters and gameplay elements. The game is $0.99, though there are in-app purchases, mostly focused on special power-ups and cosmetic changes. The game itself is fully unlocked with purchase.

Like most level-based puzzle games and its predecessor, Cut the Rope 2 starts off slow to give the player a chance to learn its most basic functions and controls as ropes are sliced in perfect time to toss the candy into Om Nom's infectious grin. Things like air cushions and balloons help keep the candy from falling off of a cliff and turning Om Non's adorable grin into an "awww" producing frown but a bunch new characters add a ton of creative new elements to an already creative game.

What appears to be hedgehogs crossed with aardvarks can spit out their tongues across a chasm creating a bridge to stop or roll the candy towards its final destination. Baby elephant looking creatures turn their long noses into springs to bounce Om Nom or the candy closer together and in the path of stars that can add to the game's longevity. These whimsical characters add a fun new dimension to what could have been an otherwise dull experience if the developers had just created new levels under the game's already brilliant design. They expand on a simple concept and give the puzzle creators more possibilities and challenges to throw in front of their players, which gives the players ample opportunities to replay it as they try to capture those elusive stars.

Cut The Rope 2 is available for $0.99 for the iPhone and iPad. [App Store]