Labyrinth2
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New section of the App Store lets you Try Before You Buy
Apple seems to be taking a step towards trying to combat app piracy, while making App Store customers happier about their purchases. A new section in the App Store touts the free, "Lite" versions of many popular apps. These versions have been around for a while and have always been free, but this is the first time that Apple has marketed the apps directly. Not only is there a whole new section called "Free on the App Store," but the Lite versions of popular are now listed in a "Try Before You Buy" area. The idea is that if you try out an app and like it, you'll be more likely to purchase the app, and once it's purchased, less likely to try to get a refund from Apple and the developer. There are 98 free titles listed in the new section, including Lite versions of Angry Birds, Labyrinth 2, CoPilot Live Directions, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and DigiDrummer. [via 9to5Mac]
From iPhone to iPad: Revisiting Labyrinth 2
How do old favorites hold up on the iPad? In our "From iPhone to iPad" series, TUAW revisits iPhone applications that have transitioned to the iPad. We look at their latest incarnation and see how the new measures up to the old. Today, TUAW looks at Labyrinth 2. I loved Labyrinth 2 when I first tested it for iPhone. So I was delighted when developer Carl Loodberg of Illusion Labs offered me the opportunity to try out the updated version for the iPad. As I wrote about the iPhone version, Labyrinth 2 offers a beautifully designed and fun-to-play classic wooden labyrinth with metal ball game that's fun to use, even for the manually uncoordinated like myself. Labyrinth 2 for iPad is all that -- and more. Loodberg has brought all the visual appeal that made the iPhone version a treasure and upgraded the graphics and interaction for the iPad display. Unlike many accelerometer games that are hindered by the iPad's larger form factor (that no longer quite matches the size of your hand), Labyrinth 2 HD actually benefits from the size jump. In fact, the iPad version more closely matches the real-world size of the original wooden toy. Labyrinth 2 HD hasn't sacrificed the great electronic touches that made the original stand out. You can still use magnets, shooters, ball doublers and other fancifully delightful elements to transform a simple game of balance manipulation into an arcade. I particularly love the pin-ball style bumpers and the little buttons that unlock obstacles. Labyrinth 2, in both its original iPhone ($4.99) and updated iPad HD ($7.99) form, offers a great iPhone OS game. It is priced slightly above the market but provides value for that cost. TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page. Promo code requests are not guarantees of review.
Hands on with Labyrinth 2 for iPhone
Illusion Labs has just released Labyrinth 2 in App Store [iTunes Link]. Beautifully designed and fun to play, Labyrinth 2 transforms your iPhone into a classic wooden labyrinth/metal ball game, but it's a lot more than that. Labyrinth 2 isn't just about manual coordination and keeping the ball from treacherous holes, it offers clever tricks and twists including gates with button-based controls that limit access to certain parts of a given maze, magnets, limited-access twirling discs, bb shooters that displace your ball, and more. I am not normally a big fan of coordination-based games. I personally have the coordination of a dyspeptic llama doing heavy pharmaceuticals. I love that Labyrinth 2 offered many levels without the "avoid the hole" dynamics that I could play and enjoy. The visual and sound design for this game are superb. I loved the care that went into it, from the diagonal main menus to the clicky feedback sounds to the ability to download additional levels after buying the game. That's not saying that the GUI was perfect. I do wish that the clicky interaction was universal throughout. UI sounds for the back button and tab bars were notable in their absence. Also the tab bar buttons ("Official","Downloaded", "Faves") were way too tiny in height for practical use. Also, I have no clue what the little Pac-Mac ghost button at the top-right of the screen was for. Those quibbles aside, the game design is really tight. The simulated physics were fabulous, the game twists (like magnets, rotating wheels, and so forth) welcome, and the entire app (retailing for $4.99) a very good value for the money. Even with my limited motion control abilities, I found Labyrinth 2 to be an enjoyable game to explore -- and my kids gave it thumbs up across the board.
