Publisher: Genius Products
Developer: inXile Entertainment
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Windows XP; 2.0 GHz CPU; 2.0 GB hard drive space; Nvidia GeForce MX 4400 w/64 MB RAM; DirectX 9.0c
Genre: Puzzle
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

As many of us come to realize early in our childhood, sledding can go from a fun wintertime outing to a six-week stint in a cast in two seconds flat. A hill’s steepness can be misjudged halfway down, or in some cases our passenger sees fit to rock the boat and capsize the sled, turning it into an uncontrollable projectile that scatters bodies in its wake. Whether for fun or for injury, Line Rider 2: Unbound seeks to capture that feeling of a York Peppermint Patty and give us the sensation, over and over again.

LR2, like its Flash predecessor, is a physics-based puzzle game in which you must draw a series of lines with different properties for the sled-bound character, Bosh, to use as a track. While the original title was considered more of a “toy” and had no actual goals or conclusion, LR2’s story mode has both; tasking the player with designing a track that’s not only safe for Bosh, but also allows him to achieve a series of goals and collect coins on his way to the finish line. There’s a catch, though: each track can only be edited in certain spots called draw regions. This restriction forces you to combine different line types, tweak angles and play the track over and over again until a suitable solution can be found. It might sound tedious, but the thrill of success and the unlockables that accompany it are enough to keep you playing. I felt such accomplishment after my sledder finally hit an angle I drew just how I imagined he would when I drew it. Conversely, it was just as frustrating when I had worked my way through a level only to be stumped, forcing me into an intense trial-and-error session. I’ll give it to inXile, though; they did a fine job of incorporating the puzzle elements, and track designer TechDawg should be commended for the wonderfully devious designs.

While story mode has its merits, Freestyle is what made the first game such a hit. Freestyle is a mode that allows the player to concoct twisting, dipping Matterhorns of fun and share them online with other Line Rider players. In Freestyle, all of your twisted fantasies come to life through the aid of robust creation tools that allow you to create lines that speed you up, slow you down, bounce you, disappear, or explode on impact. Basic creation is easy enough, but I had a few problems getting lines to connect properly or face the correct direction. This caused trouble not only for me, but for Bosh as well, sending him to his untimely death on many occasions. I soon found out that the line’s direction is based on which way it is drawn. Aside from this minor problem, Freestyle is worth the purchase price by itself, and can become a deeply rewarding experience in the right hands.

Overall, I’d say a celebration is in order. Line Rider 2: Unbound does a fine job of incorporating puzzle elements in what started out to be nothing more than an experiment in Flash-based physics. It leaves the player with a feeling of achievement in just about every mode. My advice is to seek out the original game if you haven’t played it already, and if you ache for more, this might just be the lift ticket for you.