This review originally appeared within iLounge’s iOS Gems series within the compilation article, iPhone Gems: Good Games with Familiar Names. Additional details may be found in the original article.
Some long-time fans of inXile Entertainment’s web and PC title Line Rider may disagree, but this is less a game than a time-waster for really creative types. It gives you a set of simple drawing tools and lets you create a path for a gravity-bound sledding character to follow.
There’s only one real instruction in the title: draw a line from the top left of the screen towards the bottom right, and you’ll be able to see the character ride your line from left to right before falling off the edge. However, fans have used the tools to create some pretty significant pieces of artwork, only small bits of which are the titular line for the sledder to ride; the rest is all background graphics, and in some cases, funny ones.
The iPhone version, Line Rider iRide™ ($3) is the same simple idea, plus the ability to share tracks with other users, and a couple of other features. Typically Line Rider gives you primitive drawing tools to work with on a white background; a new “Night Ride” mode lets you draw on a black one.
A feature called “Draw and Pan” makes it easier to draw huge scenes by automatically shifting the screen as you draw, and “Gravity Tilt” lets you change the effects of gravity by turning the iPhone in different directions. Of these features, it’s the sharing tool that has the most appeal, enabling you to skip past your own meager artistic skills and go straight to using user-rated, better maps that draw inspiration from art, video games, and all sorts of other themes.
Ultimately, though it’s listed in the Games section of the App Store, Line Rider iRide isn’t really a game, but for those who enjoy doodling and playing with simple physics simulators, it’s a cool toy—the modern equivalent of an Etch-a-Sketch. If you go into it understanding that the only objective is amusement, and that you’ll only get as much out of it as you put in, you’ll find it a fun diversion.
