‘LYNE’ for iOS, Android and Windows Phone game review

LYNE is a minimalist puzzle game. You connect all the dots of the same shape following a few simple rules and you complete the level. Sounds simple enough, only it isn’t.

Let’s see what this game is like.

Gameplay

In LYNE, you get a grid of dots that are made up of shapes. As you progress in the game, more and more shapes are unlocked. Each shape has a start and end point and you have to connect all the dots in the grid of the same shape. When there are multiple shapes involved, you have to connect them without their connecting lines overlapping each other.

The game basically has no learning curve. The moment you see it you know what you have to do. The game doesn’t even bother explaining itself to you. It just presents itself to you and because the design is so clear and obvious, you know exactly what to do, even when new mechanics and rules are thrown in.

That is the beauty of this game, its minimalist and simple nature. Everything is reduced to flat, basic shapes with no unnecessary garnishing and only the bare essentials are left. With such brutal simplicity in place, there is little doubt left with regards to what you have to do in the game.

Does that take away from the enjoyment of the game? Hell no. You breeze through the initial levels of the game and knowing you figured it out on your own kind adds to the fun. And just when you start thinking this game is too easy, it gradually ramps up the difficulty to bring in just enough complexity and challenge without ever becoming too frustrating.

Apart from having dozens and dozens of built-in levels for you to play for a long time, LYNE also has a daily levels feature, where you get extra sets of levels are generated every day, so you get to play new levels every day, even after you finish the ones that are built-in. Some days, you get simple levels, some days they are more difficult. This is a great way to keep the game interesting and playable even after you finish the main levels.

As for the main levels, you can actually play them again several times because it’s unlikely you will remember the exact way to solve the puzzle and so you can have go at them again and play them as you played them the first time. This means the game has terrific replay value and you get a lot more for what you paid for.

One feature I missed was a lack of online syncing to sync completed levels between devices. If not between multiple platforms at least it should have intra-platform syncing using their respective online services.

Graphics and Sound

As mentioned before, LYNE emphasises heavily on minimalism. The game has a simple green color palette and muted colors for all the shapes. Even the menu button in the levels is a small triangle tucked away at the top of the screen. Everything is whittled down so that the focus is on the game, which itself is pretty simple in design. This is simplicity at its finest.

The sound too is pretty minimal. There is a subtle theme playing in the main menu and when you start and finish a level but slowly fades into silence while you’re playing.

Verdict

LYNE is a beautifully simple puzzle game. It’s minimalism only adds to its charm and the hundreds of interesting levels in the game will keep you entertained for days. Highly recommended if you like simple puzzle games.

Rating: 9/10
Pros: Minimal design, hundreds of simple yet challenging puzzles
Cons: No cloud sync

Price: $2.99 (iOS/Android), $2.49 (Windows Phone)
Download: iOS • Android • Windows Phone