Arts and crafts aficionados will gravitate to Crafty Creatures, a puzzle game whose pattern obsessed universe is filled with fabric, buttons, and a healthy share of cloth. If thimbles and sewing don't strike your fancy, Crafty Creatures' eye catching visual design will hold your attention.

You start off by picking one of the crafty creatures to embark on a mission to unite all the other creatures in your world. Collecting buttons along the way, you must figure out a tangible way to reunite with another creature amidst contraptions that, if not used properly, can send you to your death or just simply block you from your goal. Colorful thumbtacks hold various pieces of fabric and cardboard together, and by simply touching the screen the tacks disappear, leaving the fabric or whatever item they were holding up to simply drop. Knowing when to strategically manipulate the thumbtacks to help you find the other creature is the key.  Collecting buttons along the way is also of high importance, since you spend buttons to unlock further puzzle screens. The difficulty factor ramps up as you face off with a menacing black monster who’s out to eat you and your fellow creatures.

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As a simple puzzle game, Crafty Creatures places you in a unique enough world to stave off boredom. You can also use your time to create your own creature and share your new friend on Facebook. Designing your very own level is also available, letting you choose different backgrounds and construct various puzzles. The sophistication of the levels will obviously vary depending on the depth of your imagination, and having a ton of buttons to spend for different layouts also helps.

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The visuals of Crafty Creatures are also supported by a charming and engaging music score. Under the game’s credits, the developers boast that Crafty Creatures was created sans any, “additives or artificial sweeteners”, and although that’s an intended cutesy comment, they’re correct. The merging of monsters in an arts and crafts world makes for a surprisingly organic and innovative combination, and nothing about this game actually, to excuse the pun, feels stitched together.

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Although it’s a vertical game, you can use two fingers to double tap the screen to get a closer at all of the beautiful images that grace the screen. Moving your finger left and right lets you also pan across the images, giving this vertical title even more visual depth. Even if you’re not solving a puzzle, simply letting the game sit as you watch all the beautiful images pass you buy is simply delightful. Watching elephants get carried off by green balloons and little chicks fly off on a rocket is pretty cool, especially when they’re just one of the many intricate details found in Crafty Creatures. What starts off as an amusing puzzle game is actually transformed into something even deeper thanks to its intricate environment. Crafty Creatures knows which buttons to push, and it's a title definitely worth checking out.

App Store Link: Crafty Creatures for iPhoneiPad | By Chillingo Ltd | Price: $.99 | Version: 1.0. | 40 MB | Rating 4+

7.0 out of 10 arcade sushi rating

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