Review: Blind World - You Have To See It
by Staff Writer
September 21, 2010
Overview
Imagine trying to uncover your surroundings without being able to see them, and simply using touch to figure out where you are. That is the premise of Blind World where you play a ball rolling about with a blank screen, and uncovering the objects in your surroundings by rolling over them. As you roll against an object you light it up with color, and your goal is to uncover the entire puzzle by having the ball touch everything.
Features
You drag your finger to spin the world, and tilt to adjust gravity across two episodes with 20 levels each. There is a different theme for each episode, and the game is designed as a universal app with support for the iPad and retina display. The game includes OpenFeint for online high scores and achievements, and has live in game high score rankings.The Good
Creating a puzzle mechanic to stick out in the App Store is a tough task, but that's exactly what Blind World has done. Your goal is to uncover the board by simply moving the ball around the screen never knowing what will come next. You’re tilting slightly to roll the ball along an edge that all of a sudden falls away, or along a curve only to come to a sharp point, or along a straight surface only to find it's a movable object.
Every single level plays differently, and you never know what is coming next so it always keeps you on edge. In some levels you unveil a complex maze while on others you go around the outside while dealing with blocks that shift with gravity. If just uncovering everything in a level wasn't tough enough each level has a score goal which requires some combos to achieve.
As you show parts of the puzzle consecutively you build your chain until you bounce off the path you’re currently on. To continue your chain you'll want to go slow, and hug every curve and sharp corner. Even if the game wasn't score based it would be a great challenging puzzle experience, but with scores it becomes phenomenal.
There is OpenFeint, but also live in game high scores to see your current ranking as you’re rolling around to see how close you are to the next highest ranked score. The game has a great art style with two different themes. The first has a bland background that is contrasted by the burst of colors as you discover the surroundings, and the other is like writing on a chalkboard.
As you’re rolling along you can zoom in and out to see more or less of the puzzle to get your bearings. The game is effortless to control as you can drag and tilt to move the world and ball. There is also a nice methodical soundtrack to relax within the game.
