Review by: Andrew Webster

As the title implies, the heroine of Ivy The Kiwi? isn't clear on exactly who or what she is. But there's no mistaking the game that she stars in: it's a hardcore platformer with an achingly adorable storybook coating. It may look like a game aimed at children, but the later stages will have even platforming veterans throwing their hands up in the air in frustration. But at least they'll do it with a smile on their face.

It all begins with an egg. When a polka dot egg drops from the sky at the outset of the game, it hatches a tiny red bird, the titular Ivy. But soon after entering the world Ivy comes to a realization: she has no idea who her mother is. That may sound like a brief plot synopsis, but it's all the story you're going to get until the end of the game. The narrative is so thin as to make you question why it's even there in the first place, but that also means it doesn't get in the way of the actual game.

Ivy The Kiwi? is an automatic side-scroller, which means that you don't actually control Ivy herself. She runs from left to right all on her own, and it's up to you to guide her movement by creating vines using the Wii remote pointer. You can create bridges for her to walk across, guide her to safety when she's falling down a shaft, twist a vine around to launch her up onto a platform, or create a shelter to protect her from falling obstacles. You can even turn the vines into a slingshot and use it to fling Ivy at enemies or through walls. This one seemingly simple gameplay mechanic offers you a great deal of creative freedom, giving you multiple ways to complete stages.

The stages in the game are short, so short that they don't need save points and it's not all that annoying when you die and have to restart from the beginning—and you'll have to do that plenty of times. While it starts out fairly slowly, letting you become accustomed to the vine-creating mechanic, the difficulty eventually ramps up as new elements are introduced. It specifically becomes much harder at chapter four when you first encounter enemies. As a newborn baby chick who hasn't even shed her shell entirely, Ivy is obviously quite fragile. So it only takes one hit for her to use up a life. This makes some of the trickier platforming sections particularly tense, as one single misstep means you'll have to start all over again. Naturally, this can be quite frustrating.

But it's hard to stay angry at the game for long. Not only is it a fun and challenging platformer, but it also utilizes a ridiculously cute art style that makes the entire game resemble a children's storybook. Everything in the game has a scratchy, hand drawn outline to it, and is colored in with a style that makes it look like a watercolor painting. And even the soundtrack makes you feel as if you're getting ready to curl up and go to bed, as it has a very soothing, lullaby-like quality to it. For a game about a newborn chick going on a massive adventure the childlike production values feel very appropriate.

Ivy The Kiwi? is deceptive. While it looks lighthearted it's really a serious and challenging platform game, but in spite of its difficulty, the simple controls and game mechanics make it very approachable, and while you'll almost certainly die a lot the game is very forgiving. This is the type of game that knows exactly what it is and doesn't try to do much else except for provide some fun and challenging platforming action.