by Chillingo’s Kumo Lumo is a unique, adorable, and (best of all) free mobile game available for iOS devices. Gameplay is simple and straightforward, which makes it perfect for casual play. It’s a universal app, so it will run smoothly on both your iPhone and your iPad, assuming they’re running iOS 5.0 or later.
Kumo Lumo doesn’t really fit into any specific genre, but it can be best described as a “rain ‘em up” game. You play as Lumo, a smiling storm cloud with a surprisingly deep, rumbly voice. Lumo’s job is to circle the planet and rain on things to make them grow. Trees become forests, hills become mountains, and small towns become cities with Lumo’s rain. Lumo is also responsible for disposing of nature-destroying enemies, such as flamethrower-carrying foxes, black smoggy clouds, and volcanoes.
Whenever a new gameplay element is introduced, there’s a short tutorial to go along with it. To navigate around the globe, you can either spin the planet, or you can tap and drag Lumo around the screen. To rain on things, you just tap Lumo. Lumo can only hold a limited amount of rain (and, being a cloud and all, will evaporate if he runs out), so it’s important that you fly around and collect water from other sources—like other clouds, puffed-up sheep, and whales’ spouts—to keep your water meter up.
There are currently 36 levels in Kumo Lumo, each of which has one goal and three possible stars to be earned, which indicate your level of expertise. (We’ve seen this mirrored in other Chillingo apps, like the hugely popular Cut the Rope.) To complete a level you must satisfy the goal, but to excel at a level you must fill your star meter, which is in the upper right corner of the screen. Goals can be anything from killing a certain number of enemies to growing a certain number of forests, and are usually quite easy to satisfy.
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