Game review: Labyrinth 2 - iPhone / iPod Touch (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Game review: Labyrinth 2 - iPhone / iPod Touch

12:10pm Tuesday 8th December 2009

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Tapping on Labyrinth 2 opens up a vast world of ball-rolling maze-solving fun.

The game is Illusion Labs’ follow-up to the 2008 smash hit Labyrinth which was one of the early successes on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The new game stays true to the original format, but is even more stylish, creative and packed with features than before.

If you remember the classic labyrinth toys from your younger days then you will feel instantly at home with this game as it provides a very authentic recreation of rolling a steel ball around a wooden maze.

You might also be in for a shock as the labyrinth games I remember from being a kid didn’t have lasers, pinball-like bumpers or merry-go-rounds.

This is the classic wooden toy for the 21st century – reborn and put into a snazzy digital setting on Apple’s mobile devices.

As always (and if you’re a younger reader who isn’t familiar with the original toys, ask your parents) the aim is to navigate a small silver ball around a network of obstacles from a start point to a finish hole.

To do this you tilt the maze to influence the direction of the ball, in this case using the iPhone/iPod’s accelerometer controls.

Each of the dozens of mazes only takes up one screen so you can try to plan a route out before starting.

It’s a fantastically simple concept, but mastering it requires skill, dexterity and a little bit of luck occasionally.

Along the way you’ll need to steer around standard dangers such as holes which send your ball back to the beginning of the course, but there are also more ingenious hazards this time around.

These include cannons which blast your ball to pieces, magnets which pull your ball in their direction and fans which blow air to repel your ball.

There are also helpful items dotted around the mazes such as buttons which open doors when rolled over and machines which shrink your ball so it can fit through small gaps.

You can have multiple balls on screen too, using one to manipulate an obstacle while another rolls to the end of the course.

Labyrinth 2 boasts a realistic physics system which it’s hard not to be impressed by as your ball clatters off the wooden walls and rolls faithfully around the mazes building up momentum the further you tilt. Sound effects too add to the authenticity.

As well as requiring you to craft a path to the goal the game cleverly weaves in a competitive element as you are also racing against the clock, trying to set new speed records for each maze.

In addition you can compete against a ghost ball of your best run and have four-way multiplayer via wi-fi and Bluetooth. There are numerous awards to collect throughout the game.

Saving the best until last, the strongest aspect of Labyrinth 2 is its community features.

Using the web-based course creator you can build new level packs which you then play within the game.

Your creations can be as simple or fiendishly obstacle-laden as you like.

Other people can download and rate your level packs, while you can also install mazes which others have made.

Annoyingly the level editor doesn’t seem to work on Internet Explorer but once you load it up on another browser such as Safari then it’s simple to use.

The whole creation process is great fun, from messing around with the tools to devising clever puzzles.

Being able to make your own and take other people’s levels opens up endless possibilities.

Labyrinth 2 works so smoothly on the iPhone and iPod Touch that it’s almost as though the devices were made just for this game.

The first game became a classic and spawned numerous imitations.

Other than polishing up the presentation it was hard to see how the format could be developed enough to make the sequel worthwhile.

However, the wonderfully inventive new game mechanics do provide something that feels like a fresh experience and put Labyrinth back at the front of the pack.

This is a game which somehow manages to feel new and vintage at the same time.

Verdict: 9 out of 10 – An example of how a sequel should be done – you take all the best bits from the original, then you mix in some fresh ingredients and put out a new game which is an essential purchase.

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