At first glance, Linez immediately pulls you in to its attractive, minimalist display as well as its simple and accessible gameplay. A perfect combination for a casual game, and just the kind of thing I find great enjoyment in playing as well as highlighting here.
It is in fact another clone of Lines, a game that has spawned countless iterations. Previously reviewed Bloomin' Gardens and Powerballs use the very same gameplay formula.
Where Linez differs from those to come before—at least from the ones I have seen—is in its simplicity of style and, of course, the "Online Arena" part of its name. The 'arena' is merely a well-crafted, color-coded high-score table that ranks and displays not only the highest of scores, but also the most recently played games as well; and it does so with style.
Each score is color-coded to represent the range within which it falls:
- 000-199 . . . Purple
- 200-499 . . . Navy Blue
- 500-999 . . . Sky Blue
- 1000-1499 . . . Chartreuse
- 1500-1999 . . . Yellow
- 2000-2499 . . . Orange
- > 2500 . . . Red
Linez Online Arena is sure to be a hit with the Sudoku crowd, even though it's nothing like it. The familiar crossword-puzzle-like appearance paired with the numbers set within color-saturated blocks will certainly be engaging to many a casual gamer. And while the game offers nothing new in terms of gameplay, the attractive presentation and compelling high score tables may be just the ticket to launch this brand new arrival into the casual game stratosphere. Click.
Cheers to David for suggesting this one. =)
pretty good, very hard but i tired of it easily
Is it just me, or is that placement algorhithm DELIBERATELY PERVERSE?
lol Eyebrows ..
i like this game, though i'm terrible at it so far. nice find, jay.
I like how this game looks, but sadly it has not improved or changed the gameplay. I also think once you select a block it should be somehow marked. The original showd path from the selected block to destination spot which was nice addition.
I agree with Eyebrows and tonypa! I must say that I love Powerballs except for it's lack of audio fx. With PB you can be proud of your score because the location of the next three balls is indicated thus adding more strategy and less chance to the game. I also found the GIANT new squares in Linez disconcerting.
Is there ANY strategy to this?
I gave this game about an hour and yet I see absolutely no way of improving my game. The numbers get placed all over the place and I my moves are so miniscule they seem to have no effect on the final outcome.
In math terms, it takes me at least 5 moves to make a 5-string of numbers. However in that time 15 new numbers come randomly on the board. To get ahead, I'd have to make 5-strings at least every two turns which looks downright impossible.
Hints?
Baba,
The key is to build four or three bases early in the game, then you can make several strings in a row. Every move has to count toward building new three or four bases, and you have to let some clutter build up to get to the point where you can do several chains in a row. It's a losing algorithm; eventually it will fill, but I've found that that is better than trying to make chains one at a time.
That made my score go from in the 100-200 range to in the 500-600 range, but I can't seem to get beyond that, because I can't focus my attention enough to figure out how the next tiles will be important to the chains I'm building. I think if you do both, you'll be golden.
if you set it up so a new one makes a row disappear you dont get the points for it...
thats kinda sucky
my highest score is 405.... havent gotten close to that for awhile though
Wow! They just updated the look for Linez; the board looks more like a coordinate "map," and the individual tiles look better (and they move faster onto the board too).
i have no idea.. but we got 1000 +.. then erased it and now the high score is 932?
i find this game challenging.
my highest score is 2870
Update