App Army Assembles - Does Linn: Path of Orchards have our readers jumping for joy?

To help understand how this game plays, I would describe it as if Alto's Odyssey was split across several levels. In every stage you have 3 missions: collect all small coins, collect the big one, and complete the level within a certain number of moves.

Movements are performed through swipes on screen, while an auto-run system is always on. Sometimes it felt a bit laggy with horizontal swipes but nothing ruining the experience. That said, I have experienced a bug in level 10 - the screen is flickering and it's pretty hard to see where you are moving.

In the end I would recommend this only to those who love both puzzlers and platformers.

Pretty game, pretty boring.

That’s maybe a little unfair - this is a very polished offering and a lot of effort has gone into the aesthetics. The controls are simple and they seemed to work for the most part.

I quite liked the graphical style and music, but for whatever reason I found it hard to get excited about. I will definitely dip back in every now and again, but it’s certainly not a must-play for me.

As far as I can tell there isn’t any storyline for this game. Your somewhat ambiguous character’s only goal is to pass the level while collecting various shards and passing through a gate in as few moves as possible.

Gameplay-wise, it's simply various swiping motions which activate a variety of jump, float and dash moves. It becomes pretty intuitive after a few levels. The game does become increasingly more difficult to pass with a perfect rating for each stage, and hardcore puzzlers will enjoy the challenge of working out the strategy for their moves while platformers will like trying to pull it off.

Where Linn shines brightest is in its graphics. The backgrounds are stunning and aesthetically pleasing enough to just stare at. The moving puzzle elements stand out enough to be noticed without ruining the presentation, and the slight variations of each level keep things fresh.

Unfortunately, Linn also had a major problem here as well. Several times while playing, the graphics split into a double image on screen, making the game unplayable - I would be forced to completely close and restart the app. At this time, I have been unable to complete the first stage of the second chapter due to this error. I could understand if I was playing this on an older iPhone, but my XR has never had problems like this with any other game.

Ethereal tones and chimes accompany you through the surreal world of Linn. The music really fits the the aesthetic, but I wouldn’t say it’s great either. Think new age day spa music, and you’re pretty much there.

Overall, for avid puzzle and platform gamers this could be a real hit. The increasing challenge to perfectly complete levels will keep a lot of people going. The visuals are wonderful, and the audio is serviceable.

However, the developers must address all of the glitching. I don’t enjoy restarting a game 4 times to beat a 15 second level, and the whole game is unplayable after the first chapter until they can fix chapter 2 level 1.

Due to this I can’t recommend Linn to anyone at this time, and even after I’d only really put puzzlers and platformers onto it.

This is a pretty and elegant platformer, much along the same lines as Monument Valley and its many clones and imitators. I will say, however, that as far as I got, I found it hard to care about the character as there seemed to be no story or even minimal ongoing narrative.

I also hit a frustration wall fairly early on, with little motivation to keep coming back. It’s not that I couldn’t quite figure out how to save the little character, but that I simply couldn’t react fast enough. My reactions are pretty good and the onscreen controls are adequate, but after dying five times on the same fairly early level, I gave up.

This is a nice looking game, and different enough from other similar games that fans of the genre will probably enjoy it. But I don’t see myself going back to it.

A platformer with a twist. That’s pretty much it.

The game in general has a very polished feel. The graphics and sound effects are pleasant and the gameplay is somewhat challenging, but I wouldn’t say it’s particularly exciting. There are different levels of items you can collect in each level but nothing tempted me in trying to go for the more challenging items. An incentive here would have been good.

This game might appeal to someone looking for a new platformer to delve into, but for me, there wasn’t enough to keep me engaged and wanting to back for more.

A nicely polished platformer with poise and panache. You swipe in different directions in order to navigate towards the exit gate of a swinging or rotating level. You'll have to hone your timing and spatial reasoning skills to succeed.

I found it weirdly relaxing in its own way, and while not groundbreaking, it's certainly worth a second look on an increasingly crowded App Store.

Polished graphics, music, and ambience of the game. It is reminiscent of Monument Valley and the countless games it has inspired, but something is lacking in here.

Finishing a stage requires some trial and error, but since the game is a little repetitive and doesn’t reward you for getting the collectibles you feel like the game doesn’t go anywhere.

I began this game in a fairly positive way. It has a similar look to the graphics of Monument Valley but plays without the zen feeling. The graphics are good and the music haunting, and to be fair, the concept is imaginative.

The objective is to decide your strategy on how to move the character to reach a door to the next level - however, once you make your move everything happens so quickly there is no time to actually enjoy the game and appreciate your skill.

That said, I did complete quite a few levels the first time before giving up and I did go back several times to give it a fair shot. I don’t hate the game, though I didn’t want to play it for long stretches, but it’s great for killing a few minutes.

Very nice looking game, enjoyed the look of it and the sounds. It’s a nice twist on an old classic style of gameplay that keeps you on your toes in order to pass the level, but I think it also hurts some of the gameplay as well, because things are happening too fast sometimes and you’ll end up flying through levels.

Also, I never felt the excitement or drive to keep going back to do better or try to get to higher levels. Like the levels themselves the enjoyment was short lived.

The game looks and sounds great. You can tell it's drawing inspiration from other mobile puzzle games, and tries to put its own twist on the genre

The game tells you the basics about the mechanics, and it's actually satisfying to pull off complicated moves on your own. The controls felt a bit unresponsive to me though, making me waste moves or fail due to an unlanded jump or a dash that didn't quite work.

Levels are on the short side and the goal is pretty much the same every time: get to the door to finish. There are three side goals, getting all the items and using the least moves possible, but honestly, there isn't much incentive to either repeat levels or to keep going for a long time.

The game is fine for short bursts of time, but I doubt it can keep anyone's attention for a long time.