Orbland Labyrinth (Game Review)

Who could forget Dana Andrews in Laura, especially the way that he kept playing a little puzzle game, trying to get a little ball to roll around in a little box? I had the same kind of game when I was a kid, and now you can too!

Orbland Labyrinth lets you play the same kind of game on your Firefox OS phone.

Here's a game that doesn't really need directions. You just tilt your phone and roll the silver ball through the maze until it falls in the hole. Simple, maybe too simple. Of course there is more than one screen.

When you go through the first hole, you'll get this screen.

You get the choice of quitting, playing again, and going on to the next level. And even a little bit of help in case you didn't realize that you're not just rolling a ball, you're saving the Orb! All that on one screen.

And on to the next screen.

From easy to hard, in one step! But that makes it fun. The first level was very easy, but this one now requires you to roll the ball past several holes that will make you lose the level. Only the silver hole (at the middle right edge) is an exit. All the others will stop the level right there.

And the next level is even harder.

This game will keep you on your fingertips and will provide lots of twisting and turning. I like this game for its simplicity and ease of play. It replicates a common puzzle that has been around since the 40's and probably a lot earlier. Maybe a game historian can come forth and tell me what this kind of game is called and when it originated!

But it is fun nevertheless.

And interesting in another way. All the games I've been downloading from the Firefox OS Marketplace were free. So was this one, when I downloaded it a few weeks ago. But then last week when I was downloading it again, I searched for Orbland and noticed that there were two versions of Orbland.

At first I couldn't figure out what was the difference, and then I noticed that one was free (Orbland Labyrinth Free) and one was $0.99! (Orbland Ball Labyrinth). Wow! Something is for sale in the Marketplace.

I'll be sure to buy it soon so I can write up the process. And when create a game, I'll put it in the Marketplace so you can see how that process works as well. Buying and selling is part of what Mozilla wants to happen, so rush right out and buy Orbland Ball Labryinth for only $0.99. Let me know if you can buy this game in other countries and what it costs there.

So, pretty cool, Prokapi (creators of Orbland)! The free version of the game has 30 levels and the paid has over 100 levels. That's very generous to give you 30 levels for free, and if you get to 30, you'll want the hundred for the paid version. Prokapi is from Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, and I'll be eager to see more games from them in the Marketplace.

Support the Marketplace, buy an app!

Cost: Free for 30 levels, $0.99 for over 100 levels.

Genre: Puzzle
Score: 5 (out of 5)
Tested on: ZTE Open (Firefox OS)
Get it at: Firefox Marketplace