When I first saw ‘The Little Acre’ I was immediately charmed by its presentation. It promised to take players back to the classic era of point and click adventures that I loved and grew up with. The story behind the development of this game had the same appeal for me as the story the game itself would tell.

The Little Acre follows the story of Aidan and his daughter, Lily, set in 1950’s Ireland. Aidan discovers that his father has mysteriously gone missing but soon beings to find possible clues to explain what may have happened to him. What follows is an adventure that will take both Aidan and his little daughter to a dangerous world that will test their courage and tenacity.

The first thing that must be said about this game is that it is incredibly short and can be completed in a little less than two hours. Whilst the game uses the point and click gameplay style to tell its story but it is designed to tell that story without the frustrating puzzle elements that can slow both the pace and narrative of the story telling. This is not a difficult game to complete as all the puzzles use the traditional “see what items can be picked up and then see what they can interact with” for the player to uncover the solution. But the beauty in that simplicity simply adds to the charm of the characters and story so you really will not mind that it lacks the brain teasers of the games that inspired The Little Acre.

The characters of Aidan and Lily are just lovely, especially that of the fearless and adventurous Lily. The player will take control of both characters through out the game and the story is seen differently from both of their perspectives but with the same goal of finding out what has happened to Aidan’s father and Lily’s Grandfather. This means that at different times the characters will visit the same areas but will interact differently in each one. This is perhaps shown so delicately but sublimely in the opening minutes of the game where Aidan must dress in order to go make breakfast for Lily but is afraid to wake the sleeping little girl. Then once Lily has awoken, the player will guide her in making her own breakfast but as with all young children, her intentions are slightly beyond her skills but with help from the family dog Dougal, takes real delight and pride in successfully making her bowl of oatmeal.

The characters are so wonderfully voice acted as well that their personalities really come across strongly in every line of dialogue which is then brought to life by the hand drawn visuals and animation. With a real traditional animation style, The Little Acre feels like a cartoon and is just so delightful that whilst the game may be short, the experience is just lovely and enjoyable through out with some very touching and big smile on your face moments along the way. The setting may well be the 1950s but it has some great references in the dialogue that many will get right away. The whole purpose of the game is to tell its story, and should you find yourself stuck at any point, simply pause the game and it will give the option of asking for a hint to help steer you to the solution and put you back on track.

With the 2017 gaming year only just starting and already a bus load of big name blockbusters are set to enter our consoles in the next few months, The Little Acre is just an exquisite combination of simple ideas and gameplay mechanics that work so well together that it leaves the player with a real sense of satisfaction once the end credits are rolling. The story has surprises along the way and some terrific lines in the dialogue which you can not help but smile all the way through playing. The ending is as satisfying as the beginning but at less than two hours long, I do feel the asking price is a little too high despite very much enjoying the game.

The Little Acre tells a big story but not a long one, but it is one worth experiencing. This would be a great game to introduce a younger audience to the point and click genre but still rewarding for grown ups as well. Definitely one to put on your to play list for this year.

This coming week will see the latest Star Wars content arrive for Zen Pinball as Rogue One finally gets the Pinball treatment. Much like the table content based on The Force Awakens, this is a single table DLC release. So how does it shape up?

Right away I really liked the look of this new table. It is relatively simplistic on the surface with just two areas to it, the main area and the top section. Visually it captures all the characters from Rogue One, as Jyn Erso adorns the bottom corner near the launcher as the evil Krennic stands menacingly at the top.

Unlike previous DLC table designs, I found this table to be very quick to learn in terms of combo triggers and mini game activation which allows a player to immediately get into the swing of things nicely. It removes the frustration of not knowing how to get the high scoring combos but provided enough of a challenge so that even earning the more easier scoring mini games require some effort to get started.

The mini games can be puzzling at first but soon it becomes clear how to use them. Favourites so far include the Tie Fighter shooting mini-game and attempting to hit the rebel soldiers for high scoring bonuses. The runs are easy to manage in terms of knowing where the ball is likely to recover from and this table certainly has less of the cheap ball losing aspects of previous tables.

Sadly much like The Force Awakens table, the Rogue One table does suffer from a lack of music and dialogue from the film itself. Whilst the sound effects and music are from the Star Wars films, they are from the original films and therefore at times it can feel almost like this is just a good Star Wars table that just happens to have a poster of Rogue One characters on it.

This is still an excellent and fun table to play though as a fan of Star Wars and of Rogue One. It has enough to draw a player in and reward them early on but has enough secrets to discover in order to get the high scoring aspects to the table going. It is a great addition to the other Star Wars themed tables now available.

It will certainly help to recite the now iconic Jedi prayer from Rogue One before attempting to get those high scores, “I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me”.