The Little Acre review for Xbox One, PS4

The Little Acre is a point and click adventure game that pulls inspiration from many classic PC games like Pajama Sam and Freddi Fish. These are games that I loved when I was younger and a style that I still enjoy today. With video games becoming more and more fast paced and flashy, it is nice to step back every now and again with a slower, simpler title. The Little Acre is definitely that, with a runtime of just shy of two hours on my first playthrough, there is not a lot here but what it has is great.

The first thing that struck me about The Little Acre was the art style. Truly beautiful, hand drawn settings make this a uniquely gorgeous experience that holds its own charm and style. The animation lives up to the potential the stellar drawing offers it, with relatively seamless movement and interaction with the environment. The stark contrast of colors in certain areas really serves to highlight the talent of the artists behind The Little Acre.

There is a surprisingly rich and complex story here packed into two hours. The narrative unfolds rather quickly; you are immediately made to understand that you are a son looking for his lost father while also caring for your young daughter. Your wife has passed away and you are now in charge of the family. This is made apparent after the first 5 minutes of the game and the narrative grows from there at that same rate. Nothing feels rushed, but nothing is drawn out longer than a few minutes either.

Gameplay in The Little Acre was clearly made for a PC, but adapts quite nicely to console. There were only a few instances where I felt the controller hindered my ability. During a few sequences, you are required to click on something on the left side of the screen then have mere seconds to get over to the opposite side to click on something else. With the set cursor movement speed on consoles it took me a few tries to get the timing down just right. This was not a game breaking issue, simply something that frustrated me on occasion.

The short run time only gets shorter after multiple playthroughs. There is an achievement for beating the game in under 1 hour which I was able to do with ease on my second journey through The Little Acre. I feel that there is still more to this story. They did not overstay their welcome and I would have happily played for another hour or two without feeling like it was being dragged out. I didn?t leave the game feeling like anything was unfinished or rushed, I just felt like there was more that could have been told in regards to this story. I would have enjoyed a little more time with the game, which is why I went ahead and played through a few more times.

If you are a fan of the point and click style games, or someone with no familiarity with the genre I definitely recommend picking up The Little Acre. It has a great short story element and intuitive, precise gameplay. The few puzzles to be had are easy enough to figure out without getting frustrated, but still make you think enough to keep you engaged. Once my daughter is old enough to start playing games this is one that I will be pulling out to let her get started on.