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Line Rider 2: Unbound Review for Nintendo Wii

Line Rider 2: Unbound Review for Nintendo Wii

Free flash games seem to be slowly creeping their way off of PC screens and onto retail shelves lately. For longtime freeware dabblers, being able to play favorite indie timewasters in an enhanced console or handheld format is a good thing. No longer will you be resigned to squeezing in a few quick sessions here and there during fleeting moments of freedom during the work day. Line Rider 2: Unbound is one of the latest freeware web games to get overhauled for a retail release. While the original was more of a physics toy than an actual game, inXile entertainment made sure to incorporate some solid gameplay in addition to the free-form nature of the original.

Line Rider 2: Unbound screenshot

The first Line Rider let players doodle a medley of tracks across a blank canvass in order to send a little guy on a sled careening along for a wild ride (or his impending doom). A strong physics engine made for some highly entertaining jumps, tricks, and wipeouts. Users have taken the simple online toy to the next level with very elaborate courses that border on pure art. Still, if you loved the freedom of the original but found the lack of any substantive goals or objectives a little disappointing, rest assured there’s plenty of puzzle challenges and unlockable content to explore in Line Rider 2: Unbound.

Transforming a game that was first based on a white page, a few black lines, and a teeny little 2D sledder into a flashy, marketable retail product is certainly no easy feat. Unfortunately, the process of making Unbound appealing to the all-ages crowd, rather than just freeware indie game enthusiasts, went horribly awry somewhere along the line. Unbound should succeed in holding the attention of younger gamers attracted to its cartoonish presentation, bombastic audio, and generic story, but all these elements will very likely grate on the nerves of older players who took delight in the simplicity of the freeware version.

Line Rider 2: Unbound screenshot

For starters, the throwaway story leaves much to be desired. It follows a cookie cutter conflict between a typical dressed-in-white good guy, Bosh, who’s consistently harassed by a generic, black-clad miscreant named Chaz. The two become sledding opponents competing for the affections of a Bailey – a very pink girly girl. Completion of each tier of levels in the story mode results in a goofy cut-scene where Chad hatches some new lame trap to thwart Bosh that ultimately backfires. Though generally lame, these video cutscenes on the Wii are pleasantly colorful and vastly superior to the same ones found poorly condensed onto the handheld version. The game would have been perfectly fine without a tacked-on story, yet the developers likely felt they needed to put something in for the kids. It works fine in that regard. While the artistic style of the characters and video in Unbound are a little too saccharine, the remainder of the background environments in the story mode are nicely done.

Those seeking more of a challenge will find the actual gameplay in story mode is a welcome change of pace from the completely open-ended design of the original game. In each level, you’re given a track with a starting point, a finishing line, and a portion of the infrastructure in between. Crucial chunks of the track are missing, and you’ll have free reign to use a series of unique drawing tools to fill in the blanks in an attempt to complete the track in a way that gets Bosh to stop safely within the end zone. You can only draw tracks within specific green zones laid out in key positions along the course. Choosing from different types of track that speed you up, slow you down, and have varying other effects also comes into play.

Line Rider 2: Unbound screenshot

The first few levels introduce the basic design concepts you’ll need to succeed. Puzzles get far trickier and more complex further along in the game. Along the way you must pick up all the red coins in a given level, while nabbing gold coins unlocks additional goodies. In most cases, there’s no single pre-determined track design that’s correct to use. Rather, you’ll piece together the solution by heavily experimenting through trial and error. It can be frustrating in later levels to have to continually go back and tweak very minor sections of track to achieve the desired effect, but it’s very rewarding when you find the right combination to succeed. Overall, this new way to play is really a lot of fun and complements the freestyle elements excellently.

Line Rider 2: Unbound screenshot

Using the Wii Remote to draw freehand track works fairly well, though it’s not quite as fluid a feeling as drawing with the PC mouse or DS stylus. Fortunately, there are line drawing tools that let you lay out track and then adjust its curve by grabbing and manipulating certain points along the line. This is very important in the story mode, which requires smooth transitions and accuracy to get Bosh where he needs to go. Selecting tools is a little unusual – you click the menu button and then move the remote side to side to make your selection – but it’s easy to get used to. The Nunchuk attachment is used to move the view around the course. Stamp tools, colors, erasers, and other line additions make for some fun designing. The fast-forwarding, rewinding, and pause-play features are extremely helpful in seeing how your changes impact Bosh’s trajectory on the fly.

Freestyle mode on the Wii is a fully-featured track creation tool that lets you play around to your hearts content on an immense blank canvas. This is essentially a ramped up version of the first basic Line Rider program, and fans will have no problem diving into the familiar freedom it gives you to come up with wild creations. A separate mode also allows you to concoct your own puzzle tracks to unleash on friends or upload for other players to test out via Nintendo’s WFC. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like anyone has taken the time to do so, but user generated tracks and puzzle content should eventually begin to crop up in good time.

Unbound on the Wii manages to nail the free-flow creativity of the original, while adding in enough actual gameplay and challenge modes to satisfy a broad range of tastes. The overtly kiddy vibe tends to get annoying quickly, unless you’re the intended demographic, but all-in-all this is a relatively good upgrade from a freeware to retail release.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.6 Graphics
The backgrounds look good. Videos, while irritating, are also solid. 3.7 Control
Drawing tracks using the robust toolset is quite good. The interface is easy to use, once you get used to the new elements to manage. Controls are effortless. 2.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music and sound effects are horribly painful to listen to. You can’t hit the mute button fast enough. 3.9

Play Value
Puzzles are engaging and plentiful, and the freestyle mode can easily occupy days of solid creativity.

3.7 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Story mode: Bosh vs. Chaz to get the best sled…and Bailey’s love…with over 40 mind-bending puzzle tracks designed by TechDawg.
  • Puzzle Creation mode: design your own twisted puzzles for the world to solve.
  • Freestyle mode: the classic way to create your own masterpieces with cool tricks and sound effects.
  • Easy track uploading and sharing: post you best tracks and challenge the Line Rider community to solve your puzzles.
  • Twelve new line types, including acceleration, trick, zoom, trampoline, trap door, and destructible.
  • Multiple Line Riders.
  • New, easy interface including flags for saving progress.
  • Tons of sound and particle effects.
  • Unlockable rewards.

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