I usually save the overall assessment until the end of the review. But I will go ahead and say it up front: Zen Bound is the most polished and ideally suited game created for the iPhone platform. Zen Bound involves wrapping various shapes of stone and wood–blocks, whales, birds, and the like–in a paint-soaked rope in order to, as completely as possible, cover them with paint. It sounds like a basic and perhaps bland proposition, frankly. But as Secret Exit suggests, it’s a calm and meditative experience. The game features 51 levels across two different paths: Tree of Reflection and Tree of Challenge. The former consists of animal shapes, the latter more basic geometric objects. Selecting a shape symbol brings forth the indicate 3D object to be wrapped with rope.īoth routes present the player with a tree that winds its way upwards, adorned with a variety of shape symbols, punctuated by lanterns. Each lantern is marked with a number that indicates how many flowers must be acquired in order to light the shapes above it. It is possible to achieve up to three flowers per object, depending on the percentage of the object that you are able to cover in paint. (To achieve three flowers requires 99% coverage.)Įach object presented is shown suspended in mid-air in front of a backdrop. The graphics quality of everything onscreen–object, backdrop, rope, and lighting–is superb. The objects look very realistic and exhibit high quality texture filtering and glass-smooth animation. The game presents some of the best graphics I’ve ever seen on the iPhone. A soothing audio track plays throughout with realistic rope creaking sounds that add greatly to the overall experience. The game features binaural audio processing that, when used with headphones, creates an enveloping soundscape that is truly immersive. When we inquired into the game’s release date with Secret Exit back in January, they underscored the fact that they were more focused on polish as opposed to the earliest release date with Zen Bound. And while screenshots and gameplay videos clearly demonstrate the high level of polish to the game’s visuals, what’s less easily noted is just how well the touchscreen controls have been implemented. The onscreen wooden objects can be smoothly rotated in any direction with a single-finger swipe and can be spun radially with two fingers. The angle of the rope is determined by the orientation of the iPhone. This all comes together to provide a control system that is, in a word, perfect–it truly makes you feel like you’re rotating an actual object in 3D space. Zen Bound really does cause you to get “lost" in a play session.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |