Price: $1.99   Score: 10/10    Category: Games

Knocking the award winning Angry Birds off its long-held #1 perch on the app store is no mean feat. Since their release last week, Cut the Rope and Cut the Rope HD have managed to seize the respective top spots on both the iPhone and iPad best-seller charts, and it’s not hard to see why.

After just 5 minutes of play I was hooked. The concept is simple – Om Nom is hungry and he wants candy. In each level the candy is precariously suspended by a number of ropes, which need to be cut in the right order, and at the right time in order to deliver the candy to the cute little green monster.

To make things even more challenging, there are three golden stars that need to be collected in each level. It’s fairly easy to just get the candy to Om Nom, but getting the stars too requires a little extra thought and planning.

The controls are dead simple – you simply slide your finger across the screen to cut the rope (or ropes) suspending the candy. You can cut several ropes with a single swipe, and can utilize other items such as floating bubbles and air cushions by tapping on them once.

As the levels progress there are additional types of ropes and obstacles that are introduced that make getting the candy to Om Nom increasingly difficult.

There are four stages available so far, each with 25 levels. Each stage is a different type of “box” in which Om Nom sits. Collecting stars is the key to unlocking the more advanced stages, and Chillingo has promised additional stages in future updates.

Bottom Line: With realistic physics, charming cartoon visuals and addictive pick-up-and-play gameplay, Cut the Rope comes highly recommended.