iPhone App: Wooden Labyrinth 3D

February 16th, 2009

= 4 stars

Wooden Labyrinth 3D is essentially the same game concept as Labyrinth but with the addition of a third dimension — height. Tilt the iPhone to navigate a steel ball through a wooden maze while avoiding the holes.

The Good

• Satisfying graphics and game play. The steel ball has a decent weight, and the tilt sensitivity is very accurate, allowing you fine control of the ball’s direction and speed.
• The 3D effect is quite cool. You can make the ball jump by shaking the iPhone, or tapping the iPhone’s underside (my preferred technique). This ability to travel above the wooden board literally adds another level to the wooden board — you can jump over not-so-high walls, onto second-tier platforms, and over particularly annoying holes.
• Sound effects and background music.
• An options page where you can adjust the friction, sensitivity, calibrate the controls, and toggle the background music and sound effects.
• Ten level packs with ten levels apiece will keep you challenged until your balls roll away. There’s also a level editor in the works.

The Bad

• Tilting the iPhone also changes your perspective of the wooden maze, meaning the walls actually shift slightly. The resultant effect can sometimes feel a tad extreme, like rocking on a seafaring boat.
• I was able to pass several levels using a completely ridiculous jump-as-much-as-possible technique — think Mario.

Conclusion

If you’ve already played Labyrinth Lite, this 3D version of the same wooden maze concept is a pretty solid variation on the theme, with a lot of added mileage due to a large number of additional levels. Right now, it’s only $2.99 which is might sound a bit high, until you realize a similar non-3D Labyrinth game (which appears to be made by another developer?) is going for $6.99. As a result, I’d say Wooden Labyrinth 3D feels like a steel — ball that is.

iTunes App Store Link: