Cut the Rope: Time Travel [Game Review]

Cut the Rope is now a worldwide sensation. Downloaded hundreds of millions of times, it first appeared on the horizon in 2010. A sequel followed in 2011 in Cut the Rope: Experiments. Now, after a wait of two years, ZeptoLab has released its third instalment of the series: Cut the Rope: Time Travel.

The new game is available on Android and iOS platforms.

Gameplay

If you’re familiar with the series already, then you already know this game. You have to feed your cute, little monster Om Nom shiny candies to complete levels and progress forwards. Your green monster has supposedly gone centuries back this time to meet its ancestors so for the first time ever, there are two monsters in each and every level for you to feed. Once you get on with this formula, it’s mostly similar to any other Cut the Rope game. But does twice the action mean twice the fun?

Unfortunately in this case, the answer is a plain and simple ‘No’, as the game again falls victim to some of the mistakes ZeptoLab made in the last iteration as well. To start off, there are six ‘boxes’, or in simpler terms, stages: The Middle Ages, The Renaissance, Pirate Ship, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and lastly, The Stone Age. All of these boxes include 15 levels each (instead of the usual 25) followed by videos at the end. That sums up to around 90 levels for you to play.

Let’s start with the good news. The game features new items and abilities. There are bombs, blades, ability to stop time, sundials, moveable items & stars, synchronized candies and the list goes on. The game has got good looking visuals. The ancestors of Om Nom are all quite beautiful and interesting, especially the monster you’ll find in The Stone Age levels. They all sound great too. Presentation-wise, Cut the Rope: Time Travel is a great achievement.

All the levels come with their own uniqueness for the most of the part. The Ancient Greece levels, for example, come with switches which swap between the two Om Noms.

But 90 levels doesn’t mean fun all the time. Most of the levels are extremely easy. What’s ironical is that some of them are frustratingly difficult and even boring. It feels weird to be playing a “hair-pullingly” difficult level just after playing an easy level which even a third-grader can pass. And you can literally count the number of those hair-pullingly difficult levels on your fingers. I finished the game in less than 2 hours and wasn’t exactly ‘mad’ for achieving 3 stars in every level but was still able to get 250 out of 270 possible stars. It’s that easy. This is the very thing which I didn’t exactly admire in Cut the Rope: Experiments.

And then it’s the background. As I said the visuals are good but an interactive background certainly wouldn’t have hurt much, especially since we’ve all got so used to those.

Conclusion

That being said though, the old, faithful cult following of the series will still love this game. The game too but as an old fan of the series, I felt disappointed.

The good: Good graphics, easy-to-learn gameplay, two monsters to feed

The bad: Extremely easy, not that many levels, boring at times, nice sounds

Final Score: 6/10

IBM Empowers Pakistan’s first Hydroelectric Project

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) Remaco, the operator of Pakistan’s first private sector hydroelectric power scheme, has tapped IBM to help meet the business challenges of running the $235 million plant. TNB Remaco chose IBM software to help streamline business operations.

Currently, the total power generation capacity of Pakistan is 23,538 Mega Watt with energy consumption having grown by almost 80 percent in the last 15 years. The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) forecasts the country’s electricity demand will increase to around 40,000 MW by 2020.

TNB Remaco – Operation and Maintenance Contract Partner with builder Laraib Energy Limited – recently completed the 84 MW New Bong Hydroelectric Power Complex on the Jhelum River in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. 

After going live at the end of March 2013, the plant is expected to help meet Pakistan’s growing energy needs by adding an estimated net annual of 540 GWh green energy to the national grid, and enhancing the hydro power generation capacity of Independent Power Producers (IPP) by 40 percent. The addition of this power source will be able to provide cheaper electricity to an estimated 60,000 homes  in Pakistan.

‘To be a global one-stop service provider for power-related works, we have to continue serving our customers with high-end quality services through transformational use of technology. IBM’s solution will play a vital role in running the systems efficiently and helping pave way for rapid and full scale development of Pakistan’s hydropower potential’ said TNB President Che Khalib.

TNB Remaco selected IBM Maximo asset management software to automate its manual systems in order to optimise efficiencies while helping to scale the business to meet increased resource demands. Previously, finalizing approvals and searching for timely, relevant information was a big task as data was scattered across multiple systems. The IBM software provides TNB Remaco’s power plant with a single, consolidated view of all their energy data as well as asset and service management data, enabling employees to make better informed decisions about the plant’s operations.

The solution will also assist in planning inventory to meet precise maintenance demands, making the correct parts available at the right location whenever needed.

‘The hydropower project operated by TNB Remaco will add a sufficient amount of energy to the region’s current energy production capacity. IBM’s solution not only equips TNB Remaco to automate their business process and better manage resources, it will also create an interconnected system that helps plant operators run a more efficient energy complex’ said Adnan Siddiqui, Country General Manager, IBM Pakistan and Afghanistan.

With global electricity demand expected to grow more than 70 percent by 2035 ⁴, hydropower, along with other renewable energy sources will become critical. By 2035, renewable energy will account for almost one-third of total electricity output.⁵ Helping Pakistan tap into new energy resources underscores IBM’s commitment to helping companies across the globe operate more efficiently as they work to meet rising energy demand.