Noodles! is a mighty fun game, I've spent a bunch of hours with it and never did its mechanics fail to amuse me. That being said, there was too much of it, I've stopped at about 40% of the game being over, and what was left to do was more of the same. Some games overstay their welcomes and without adding new mechanics or without metaphorical carrots to dangle in front of me, I had to stop before I got really bored with the same puzzles over and over.
The basic concept of the game is quite simple! You have to rotate pieces so that ever one of them is part of the chain and that there are no loose ends. Sometimes the pieces are squares, but sometimes they're hexagons, and that adds a little bit of challenge. You get a rating at the end of each puzzle based on the time you've spent and the number of moves it took you to solve the puzzle. That's pretty much it! I have some issues with individual parts of what I just talked about, but the game is just that. You figure out quickly a method to solve puzzles, you start with certain bits that are easier to place than others, then you move from there. It's just that same mechanic over thousands of puzzles. They could be randomly-generated for all I know, the method is the very same.
The diamonds you earn at the end of each level are useless. There is nothing you can do with them, not even unlock different color palettes for the game, or something, anything! The game grades you on time and number of moves, but when it's super easy to press something by mistake (and you only rotate pieces in one direction) and then you need to tap a bunch more times to get it where you want, you don't feel like it's a good score, but you don't care, because the score doesn't impact anything.
I know, there is more negativity in this review than good stuff, but the game itself is very solid and entertaining. Maybe it should be shorter, maybe it shouldn't grade your puzzle-solving skills, but if you're looking for a good thinking game that will occupy many good hours of your entertainment time, go right ahead with Noodles! And who knows, maybe I've been playing it wrong and short bursts of one puzzle here and there would've been better than just plowing through content!
