Cut the Rope: Triple Treat

Cut the Rope is built around one simple idea: you're chilling at home one day when suddenly a random package shows up telling you to feed whatever's inside with candy and that's when you find Om Nom and you tryna get a piece of candy into his mouth by cutting the ropes holding it. What starts as basic swipes quickly turns into a little exercise in timing, momentum, gravity and planning, especially when you're also trying to collect all three stars in each stage. The ropes swing naturally, bubbles lift the candy and other objects gradually turn the levels into proper physics puzzles without making the controls complicated. The original is split across themed boxes such as Cardboard, Fabric, Foil and Gift, giving the progression a bit of visual variety while keeping that handmade colorful presentation consistent and Om Nom itself is half the charm, his animations make even a failed attempt feel cute rather than annoying, for a while at least.

Cut the Rope: Experiments is essentially Cut the Rope taking its little candy laboratory idea and running wild with it. The core objective is unchanged but the puzzles become much more mechanical thanks to gadgets such as sliders, trampolines, air blowers, suction cup rope shooters and more contraptions that let you manipulate the candy in increasingly strange ways. The Professor gives the game a loose narrative framework with each set of levels presented as another experiment involving Om Nom and that gives this sequel a bit more personality without getting in the way. It also asks more from you than the original but that extra complexity gives you a lot more toys to mess around with.

Cut the Rope: Time Travel is where the series starts getting properly ambitious with its formula, because now you're feeding two Om Noms while jumping across 12 different historical periods. Every level still revolves around cutting ropes and manipulating candy through physics but the second mouth changes everything: you have to think about both candies, their timing and their routes rather than solving a single trajectory. The historical settings also bring new mechanics into the mix, including portals, bombs, chains, spinning blades, switches and time stopping abilities and the later stages combine several of them in ways that can get surprisingly brainy. The presentation stays colorful and cute with each era giving Om Nom a themed appearance while the soundtrack even sneaks in some Back to the Future flavor.

Download

The candy is dangling, Om Nom is waiting and there's a whole mess of ropes above him that's already getting dangerously complicated. After making your way through all the boxes, experiments and even a few trips through time, there's only one thing left to do: get the games on your 3DS. First, make sure your system is running homebrew, then click the download button down below or open the FBI app from your HOME Menu, your little buddy for every Remote Install. Point the camera toward the QR and let the experiment begin. Once the transfer is complete, Om Nom will appear right on your HOME Menu, sitting comfortably alongside your other games and ready for the next test. Now grab the download, cut the ropes and see where it lands.