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iPhone game Labyrinth Lite gets five sequel levels, first impressions of Labyrinth 2

It's got everything. Except David Bowie

iPhone game Labyrinth Lite gets five sequel levels, first impressions of Labyrinth 2
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| Labyrinth 2

You might recall that we foretold the coming of Labyrinth sequel on iPhone after the success of Illusion Labs's classic recreation of the wooden toy from last year.

Well, the free Lite version of the original game has just been updated to include five levels of the forthcoming sequel, to show off the huge revamp the game has gone through.

Illusion Labs was kind enough to send over a preview of Labyrinth 2, which has cost me the bulk of the afternoon's work.

Let's take a look.

Take your ball home

The basic mechanics of gameplay are unchanged. It's a small, single screen maze with a hole at the far end that you're required to coax a ball bearing through using the iPhone's accelerometer. Mega-simple, but that was always part of the game's charm.

It's also a format that's very limited, so it was difficult to see exactly what Illusion Labs could do to make Labyrinth 2 any more interesting.

Essentially, the original game serves as a raw foundation for this new model, which has a host of fascinating obstacles and features built on top of it.

By adding such items as magnets that pull your ball bearing toward them, pinball-style bumpers, and fans that blow the ball away, open spaces within the labyrinths are much more interesting places.

Couple this with buttons to open doors, laser trip switches that activate functions around the maze (for good or bad), and devices that add multi-balls or shrink your bearing down so it can fit through tiny gaps, and the complexity of the game enters a massive new dimension.

Roll with it

Labyrinth played beautifully - or at least, the physics of the ball movements were blindingly realistic. Therefore, the sequel is nigh on impossible to fault in terms of controls, with a tangible weight to the ball as it clatters around the wooden walls, getting pushed and pulled about by the many obstacles.

The textures and 'depth' of the maze itself appear much smoother and more realistic this time around, however, to the extent that the ball looks almost real.

I tested it on the cat, and she was utterly convinced that a real ball had fallen through the iPhone, and went looking for it under the table.

All in all, the essential unimaginativeness of the concept is washed away by the imaginative level designs that form the core of Labyrinth 2. It looks and plays like the real thing, with just the right number of additional features to elevate it high above the physical toy.

Labyrinth 2 should be with us very shortly, so keep an eye out on the App Store and right here on Pocket Gamer for more info.
Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.