The Little Acre is a point and click adventure with hand-drawn graphics, so it kind of has a Willy Beamish feel to it.  You play as father Aiden and daughter Lilly, who live on a small farm with Aiden’s dad.  His dad is an inventor and has made a portal to another dimension.  One day, he goes missing and Aiden searches for him and discovers the portal machine.  When Lilly wakes up and finds her dad missing, too, she goes after them as well.  It’s up to you to help reunite them and bring them back home.  It’s available to download on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

This is a true point and click adventure, not like those ‘follow your nose’ adventures that TellTale has been putting out lately.  There are two ways that you’ll control what’s going on.  On some screens, you’ll move the characters around directly, and button cues will show up on certain objects when you get close to them.  On other screens, you won’t control the character at all, but a cursor which you can use to click on things.  Press the triangle button to bring up your inventory, where you can use items on other objects, toggle options, or receive hints.  It’s all pretty intuitive, for the most part.

I really only had two minor problems with this game.  Sometimes you have to be very observant to solve a puzzle, and I did get stuck one time because of it.  But luckily you can always bring up the menu to get hints or the solution to the problem if you need it.  Also, the game is a bit short.  I was able to beat it in a little over a couple of hours, and there is even a trophy for beating it in under one hour!  But it’s still a very charming little game.  My favorite parts are when you get to play as Lilly.  She’s a rambunctious little girl, but her heart is in the right place, and many of her puzzles involve her trusty dog Dougal, who helps keep her out of trouble.  So if you like point and click adventures, you’ll definitely want to check this one out!

Kid Factor:

The Little Acre is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence. Most of the violence is not shown, only implied.  If you’re OK with your kids watching some of the scarier Disney cartoons, they’ll be OK with this game.  One of the characters does die, and it’s a little sad, so that may upset some young gamers.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the menu text, but not always necessary as most of the dialogue has spoken voice, too.

Tags: Game Reviews