Lines the Game is a laid back puzzler that's all about filling images with colour. It's remarkably simple to pick up and play, and adds enough new modes as you go that you're unlikely to get bored.
It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, and some will find the plinky piano soundtrack and calming gameplay a bit flat. But if you're looking to lounge back on the sofa and not think too much, then this could well be the game for you.
Drawing it togetherThe aim of the game is to fill a series of interconnected lines with your colour. To begin with you do this by placing a bright blob or two somewhere on the image. Once they're placed your hue swells out from them, and if you've got it right it'll cover more of the lines than your competitors.
As you play you'll unlock new modes. One lets you erase other coloured blobs, one lets you add lines to create shortcuts, and a third lets you cut spaces in the lines to block off your opponents. The last mode is a combination of the ones that came before.
You have a limited amount of moves each turn, so you need to think carefully about where to place, slice, or erase. The blobs you're up against move each time a level resets as well, so there's never a definitive solution to a puzzle.
There's a cathartic pulse to the gameplay. Levels never take more than a few seconds, win or lose, and while there's extra content to unlock by chaining together winning streaks, the game never feels like it's too much of a challenge.
Doing linesLines the Game is a Sunday afternoon game. Something to play sprawled out on your sofa when you want the world to be quiet for a while. It never shouts, it never bombards, it just sort of swims along obliviously, taking you along for the ride.
It gets a little repetitive, and you'll find that once you've figured out the best way to complete a style of puzzle, you can replicate it throughout the levels.
But there's enough going on here that you'll be happy to let the game wash over you for a couple of hours.