Line Rider has become somewhat of an internet hit - starting off life as a simple flash game, it's since ballooned into a title spanning multiple platforms each with their own unique features, and now, the iPhone. Searching for videos about Line Rider just shows how much time and effort that people have put into creating masterpieces of pencil sketching.

For the uninitiated, the idea is simple. You draw a line with your finger, and Bosh (the little guy on a sled) rides it. That's pretty much it. You have three different lines to draw with (normal, acceleration and scenic), a rubber, and a few other neat features such as flags (will make Bosh start from there instead of the starting position) and pinch gestures for zooming in or out. The world is your canvas in this game, and the room you have is limited only by your imagination - ramps, slopes, ledges, loops, you name it, Bosh will ride it. Unless of course, you draw a wall in the middle of the level, which you will collide into upon impact. Any track that you create can be saved, which is great for long projects that will be completed over several play sessions.

Furthermore, there's many different options that you can toggle on or off - such as night mode (inverts the screen from white to black), and gravity tilt - well, let's just say that that uses the accelerometer. The real stars however are the community features which tap into the iPhone's WiFi antenna. From here, you can download other people's tracks, upload your creations, and even give ratings. It works flawlessly. We were pleasantly surprised by many of the tracks available to download, most of which probably took days if not weeks to complete.

Like the Flash original, the presentation is about as basic as it gets. The focus is squarely on the tracks that you create, with no added extras. By ditching flashy menu systems and creating tools that are functional, Line Rider creates the perfect sandbox experience - draw anything, anywhere on the screen. Sound effects are kept to a bare minimum, and there's no music to accompany Bosh on his sled.

But actually drawing your perfect sledding adventure (or whatever else you fancy) is hampered by loose controls - simply put, using your index finger is much more difficult than using a mouse or a tablet pen to draw out a course. To be fair, the game does try and auto join lines together, but you will most likely be making judicious use of the undo button. In other words, this is a game for the very patient and meticulous out there, and so we can't recommend it to everyone.

Media gallery

• 
• 
• 
• 

More by this developer

ShapeShape, B

Review by Ben Briggs, July 17, 2009