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Keeping time with NOON is hard, frantic but compelling, out on iOS this week

Stop the clock

Keeping time with NOON is hard, frantic but compelling, out on iOS this week
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iOS
| NOON

NOON is an erratic game of well-timed taps that encapsulates what it's like trying to keep up with time.

It starts by showing you a clock, the hand of which is spinning around it rather fast. At the top of this clock is a marker signifying noon. "Tap the clock when it hits noon," instructs the game's main menu.

You do, and then you're playing the game before you even realise it.

You get a point for each time you tap the clock when it hits noon. It's easy to be too early or too late - this is all about timing, after all.

But that one clock only takes up a quarter of the screen. As you progress, another clock is added for you to tap, and then another, and another.

Yes, the real challenge doesn't begin until you have four clocks to tap when they each hit noon. And yes, they all hit noon at different times, the clock hands spinning at different speeds.

Then the clocks rotate so that noon is on the left, then the bottom. This subtle rotation is enough to completely throw you off when trying to concentrate on four clocks at once.

You can't abandon any of them either. Next to each clock are four circles, one of which will disappear every time the hand does a full circle. If the clock loses all its circles - meaning you didn't tap it at all - then you lose.

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NOON's trailer is as brash as the game itself - it's 16 seconds long - so give it a look above if you want to see the game in action.

It'll be out on iOS later this week, and it will be free... for now. Developer Fallen Tree Games is adapting a unique payment model for NOON.

It'll be free at first, supported by ads, but then they'll release a content update and shift the price so that it's a paid-only game.

All of those who download NOON while it's free will get the new content (mostly new game modes) and won't have to pay a thing for the game.

Others will have to pay the initial price, so it's worth downloading it as early as possible. We'll let you know later this week when you can.

Chris Priestman
Chris Priestman
Anything eccentric, macabre, or just plain weird, is what Chris is all about. He turns the spotlight on the games that fly under the radar.