The follow-up to World of Goo was magnificent.
I didn't pay close attention to Little Inferno before its release. All I knew before it debuted on the Wii U eShop at the system's launch was that it was a virtual fireplace, and, as a few folks who had played it told me, it was awesome. I bought it almost entirely on good faith and curiosity. It was well worth it because Little Inferno completely swallowed me whole for the duration of its short but effective story.
The basic premise of the game is nothing more complicated than this: you buy things to burn them. You can buy a credit card and then watch it burn. You can buy a gaming tablet and then watch it burn. In one of the game's more horrifying moments, you can buy a school bus filled with children and watch it burn. It's uncomfortable, but in order to progress through the game, you have to burn everything. It's a BioShock twist away from saying the exact same things about video games that those games usually do.
Little Inferno isn't just about setting fire to things, though. You need to discover different combos of items to burn, which are necessary to completing the game. These combos are individual puzzles, requiring you to read the item descriptions closely and test out how each item burns. Some are straightforward, and some are obtuse, but nonetheless, it is rewarding to figure out these puzzles in the same way it is rewarding to complete a puzzle in Picross.
Puzzle completion isn't the only motivation, though. Little Inferno's story concocts an air of mystery and beguilement that is in line with Tim Burton-style stories. Through snail mail communications with your fireplace's creator and your next door neighbor, the story of the downtrodden world is slowly pieced together, all coming together in a gratifying conclusion that turns the game on its ear.
Little Inferno won't give you dozens of hours of enjoyment. What this game gives you is a finely polished three-hour experience that is well worth playing if you own a Wii U. It was one of Nintendo World Report's favorite games of 2012, and it is currently the site's fifth favorite Wii U game. It earned both of those spots by being such an alluring, unique game.
