I was never a fan of the old ball-bearing labyrinth puzzles that lay about my grandparents’ living room. I lacked the touch necessary to angle the platform and keep the ball from doing anything other than thunking into the bottom of the box after taking two corners.
Today, an entire genre of these rolling-ball puzzles have hit the iOS, with a greater degree of control over the ball – and lots more for it to do inside the maze. One of these is Super Ball Escape, which I picked up last month on the iTunes App Store during a free-download period, and still is now only 99 cents. It’s available on all iOS platforms.
Navigating the maze without drifting off the platform is only part of Super Ball Escape’s challenge. You’ll have to unlock doors, sneak past enemies or trap them in other rooms (or defeat them), and change shape to slip through defenses undetected. An upgrade system aids your robot run to freedom.
The game includes 12 levels after your three tutorials – the video above shows you Tutorial 3, as it had the most compact presentation of the different gameplay mechanics. You’ll need precision and patience to stop, wait, hug a wall or tiptoe along a catwalk, outside of the view of a security cam. So it’s not the greatest of commute games. But the accelerometer handles very well – don’t assume that once your ball straddles the edge you’re gone. And the environment is varied and challenging enough to make 12 boards worth the buck.
Super Ball Escape [iTunes App Store]
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