Zen Bound

Written by Bret Morace  on March 12, 2010

Review: Now I'm a believer

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Okay, let's get one thing straight: I hate most iPod/iPhone games. They all seem pointless and reiterations of the last ?big thing?. Can you really blame me when the App Store has hundreds of fart apps? Secret Exit, the developer of Zen Bound, gives me hope that the iPod/iPhone gaming scene may one day reach a mature audience.

Zen Bound is a simple puzzle game. What is the puzzle, you ask? To wrap a wooden object with a single strand of string that varies in length according to the difficulty of the object. The objects are laid out between three trees. You start at the bottom of the tree and climb your way to the top by completing puzzles. The minimum to complete puzzle is to wrap 70% of the object, but if you want to continue to climb the tree, you will have to strive for an 85% or 90%.



The controls are simple (which is great for the iPod/iPhone), you just use a finger to rotate the object and wrap it. Just think how you would do it in real life. What makes the controls so great is how you feel at ease. To be honest, the iPod/iPhone's main problem is how games are controlled. Some have on screen D-Pads others have tap and pull controls, but for me simple is best. With so many games now focusing on twitch reflexes, I found myself ignoring Mass Effect 2 or Modern Warfare 2 to play Zen Bound. As the title of the game implies, I felt very relaxed. The easy ambient music in the background - which, the creators remind us at the beginning of the game, is "Designed for Headphones" - caused an almost drug-like effect when added to the slow-paced gameplay."