Previously available on Xbox Live Arcade’s indie games section, Quiet, Please! has a central story we can all relate to.
The lead character is a young girl who after a stressful day at school wants nothing more than to relax in silence within the confines of her home. Sadly, the rest of her noisy family doesn't seem to share this desire.
The game therefore revolves around finding ways to shut up each member of the household.
Your father has the TV on too loud, your kid brother has ingested one too many fizzy drinks and is running riot, your mother is constantly yapping on the phone, and your normally adorable kittens simply won’t shut up.
Turn the volume downAlthough the game controlled using the D-pad and buttons, Quiet, Please! is very much a point-and-click adventure. Your character can only hold one item at a time and has to move around the house finding solutions to each problem.
For example, your younger brother is a handful, but can be placated with a comic book and some clean pyjamas - however, the detergent required to wash said nightwear is stuck behind a dusty cupboard, and the gap is too small for you to squeeze through.
Perhaps your smaller sibling can be tempted to crawl through the gap, but what can you use to guide him there?
These simple logic puzzles are what makes Quiet, Please! so compelling - although there are a few moments when a perfectly viable solution seems to be available but the game isn't flexible enough to permit you to use it, on the whole the design is pretty sensible. There aren't any solutions here that will leave you cursing the obtuse logic of the designer.
Put up or shut upQuiet, Please! can be completed in less than an hour - significantly less if you’re smart enough. Once finished, there's no reason to return to the game, so if you value longevity from your downloads you may wish to look elsewhere.
Despite the painful brevity of the experience, Quiet, Please! is a well-designed little gem that's tightly constructed and very enjoyable - just don’t expect it to keep you glued to your screen for anything longer than a day.