Loops of Zen Lite

by Eric March on November 2, 2008 at 12:01 am

(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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App Name: Loops of Zen Lite
Developer: Arend Hintze
Category: Logic & Puzzle Games

Look, I consider myself a fairly intelligent sort of dude with an affinity for logic games, but I have to admit that this one was hard to grok.  Arend’s description wasn’t exceptionally helpful: “Rotate each tile until perfect harmony is restored. If no loop is open anymore the screen will invert.”  The website didn’t help either.  So I was left to look at whatever screenshots I could find hoping one of them would be the Rosetta stone to figuring this puzzle out.  They helped, but mostly it was a matter playing one of the puzzles until I completed one to see what a completed puzzle looked like and what I did to get there.

Unfortunately that doesn’t really make it any easier to describe, which may explain Arend’s own rather nebulous instructions.  But damnit, I’m going to try, so if this doesn’t many any sense, blame Arend.

The object of the game is to rotate the tiles (a bit like Rainbow Ruffle, and thus like its progenitors) to connect all of the lines such that only loops are left.  The real brain thrashing part is figuring out which parts are supposed to be arranged in loops and which are merely paths that connect one loop to another — and if that isn’t enough, the entire puzzle may or may not represent one contiguous path; some loops may end up disconnected from other portions of the puzzle.

The puzzle itself consists of straight lines, curved single-segment lines, curved multi-segment lines that may or may not belong to one or more loops, and self-contained loops with a path leading off of it.

Confused yet? The screenshots at the top here try to illustrate what I’m talking about; there are two puzzles displayed here, each showing the start of the puzzle in black on white, and the completed puzzle beside it in white on black, just to give you an idea of how you’re supposed to approach it.  Even with the visual aid it’s just something you’re going to have to play in order to properly wrap your head around it.

Props to Arend for a rather unique concept, but the problem with these sort of things is that when you start wandering off the beaten path you risk making something whose object is a little too obscure, resulting in a game that might be too hard for some people to get into.  To make matters worse there’s no inline help — the only clues you get on how to play are in the app’s description, and that’s not very helpful.  Good thing I’m here, isn’t it?

It’s purely a logic game — there’s no sound, no fancy graphics — heck, no colour.  It’s rather interesting though, I’ll give it that, and definite points for originality here, even if that originality comes at the cost of clarity.  It really needs inline help for beginners though who may not be able to conceptualize the objective.

This lite version gives you one level to play with — but the level is randomized, so you get a new puzzle each time you load it, which is nice.  The full version gives you 24 randomly generated levels with the ability to shake to reset the puzzle, zip through the various puzzles you’ve completed, or even edit to create your own custom levels.  The fact that all 24 levels are randomly generated just like this free demo generally makes me think that the only advantage that has is that you don’t have to quit and reload after each level.  The editor is a nice idea though, but since you can’t share your levels it’s a bit pointless, given that you, being the designer, would already know how to solve it.

The full version will run you two bucks though — a bit steep for a game like this if you ask me; without some spiffing up with nice graphics, maybe some sound, and inline help, I have to say that this is strictly dollar store territory.  Arend would certainly make more money on it that way, given the metrics I’ve seen of how well dollar games sell compared to games priced at twice that.  Plus, a buck falls straight into the impulse buy category.  Two bucks, not so much.

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Posted in Games: Logic & Puzzle