Lines is a very simple game. So simple in fact that it may as well not be considered a game at all. That doesn't sound right, I guess, but well, it's the truth. Even the devs themselves call this an "abstract zen game experience".
So what is Lines The Game all about? Well, you place or remove a dot to initiate a colorful race that fills a drawing. If you fill more lines with your color, you win, simple as that. But the thing is, you don't really have much control on the filling itself or the speed it goes, it's the game manages that. Here's where the zen-y part comes into play.
Watching the colors race through the minimalistic lines in the drawing is kinda calming and the end "product" is beautiful to look at. As your color fills up more space, piano notes play in the background. Most of the time, these notes are out of tune, the equivalent of gibberish, but in rare instances when you color flow through the line especially in the large drawings with lots of lines, these notes are in perfect harmony. The levels, however, are not the only place where you hear the piano. You can also hear it in the menus or if you scroll through the levels and if you get the speed just right, a calming melody or maybe a scale (I don't know piano stuff) plays out and it's just great.
Playing the game on mute is well, stupid to do since you won't get the full experience, you won't feel the zen. And there's a lot of zen to be had in the game since it has around 250 unique puzzles or drawings. But placing or removing a dot is not the only thing or better say mode the game offers. There are also levels where you can draw lines yourself on the drawing to create "shortcuts" so your color can spread quicker. Also there's a mode where you can cut down a line, preventing colors from filling a part of the drawing. And in the end you have a mode that's a combination of the previous ones, meaning that you can place or remove dots and draw or cut down lines.
There is some sort of strategy involved in the game, especially on the last mode, but since the placement of the other dots is random and changes every time you retry, what worked once might not work again. This is by far not a negative point, in contrary it helps with the replay value of the game.
Reviewing mobile games is weird and hard, especially games or experiences like this one and giving it a score from 1 to 10 doesn't feel right. You have to play it yourself to get it, understand it. So I'm not gonna do that. If you have 3 bucks to spend, give the game a try on either iOS or Windows Phone, you might just like it!
