Game Reviews

Burn the Rope

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Burn the Rope

It's an oft-repeated but undeniable fact that men love burning stuff.

From early memories of bonfires to science lessons spent lighting Sellotape (don't try this at home, kids) and on into my present state of beer mat-troubling pyromania, there's little more alluring to me than a naked flame.

Burn the Rope is right up my street. It's a fun and inventive fire-based puzzler, although it occasionally follows the fiery template a little too closely in its tricky unpredictability.

Playing with fire

Burn the Rope is one of the simplest games to play, relying solely on your iPhone or iPod touch accelerometer. It also requires a steady hand, a sharp mind and plenty of patience – you won't be burning through this one in a hurry.

The idea is to guide a flame around a series of rope formations. The flame happily travels along this pre-set path, and even splits obediently when a fork in the road appears – but only when it's travelling up the screen. Travel on a downward trajectory for more than a second or two and your precious fire is extinguished.

By tilting your handset – as well as judging where to start the burn – you can eat up the ropey yards and score yourself a medal. You only need a bronze to progress to the next level, but your goal ultimate goal is to consume everything and earn a gold.

Feel the burn

It's a basic premise, though meaningful new elements are introduced before too long. Coloured bugs crawl along the ropes that must be fried to a crisp in order to make use of their special abilities – often vital for reaching every last rope.

For example, coloured ropes need to be burned with a like-coloured flame, which can only be created when you burn an appropriately coloured ant.

While its core gameplay is both original and gently absorbing, Burn the Rope can be frustratingly unpredictable. The flames don't always behave as you'd expect, especially when it comes to corners. It's not always clear at which point you need to twist your handset in order to negotiate such turns, resulting in a number of annoying fizzle-outs.

Although an inadequate feedback system prevents Burn the Rope from being a classic, it's easily playable and original enough to ignite the passions of a more considerate breed of puzzle fan.

Burn the Rope

Burn the Rope is an original and taxing accelerometer-driven puzzler, though its flames are dampened slightly by a lack of adequate feedback
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.