An interesting game was released over this past weekend called Blind World [99¢] from developer Dmitriy Kuzmenko. In Blind World you’re given a series of levels comprised of designs on a 2D plane. The catch is that the level designs are invisible from the start, and you can slowly uncover them by rolling a wheel along their edges by tilting the device or touching and dragging the screen. You’re given points for revealing the lines that make up the level, with bonus points for uncovering large portions at a time without your wheel leaving the surface. A set amount of points must be achieved in order to complete a level. Adding to the challenge is the addition of objects inside of the level structure itself that react to the gravity along with your wheel and can hinder your progress.
What really stands out about Blind World is the excellent visual and aural experience it gives you when playing. Each increment of surface that you reveal with the wheel is a different colored splotch of color, and a moody piano piece serves as the soundtrack. Just rolling your wheel around the level and slowly uncovering the surfaces has an almost zen-like appeal to it. OpenFeint is integrated with leaderboards for each of the game’s 40 levels, and a neat challenge system has you earning as many points as you can in 30 seconds on any unlocked level and then sending that score to a friend to try and beat.
It’s an incredibly unique concept, but also one that is very hard to explain. This demonstration video gives you a good idea of how Blind World works:
While there are many positive points about Blind World, the one thing that really drags it down is the frustrating physics in the game. The wheel gains momentum too quickly and is hard to control once it gets going. Also it can bounce around very easily making it too difficult to control where you want it to go. If you plan to use tilt controls, then get ready for some manic spinning of your device, which is especially awkward with an iPad. I prefer the touch and drag controls myself, as you have a bit more control over how much you tilt the level and get your wheel moving, but neither really feel ideal. Another sore point to Blind World is that it has a tendency to crash fairly often, which can be infuriating if you’re just about to finish a level when it happens. The developer has acknowledged working on a fix in our forums.
Blind World has the potential to stand out as something very different from what is available on the App Store. It’s a really unique and artistic experience that’s well suited to the platform. The crashing problem and the physics engine, however, can make it a bit of a chore to play, so we are hoping they can be tweaked in the updates.
