Zen Bound crashed into the iPhone scene in early 2009, and since has developed into a very great game, expanding into more levels, and getting even better.

Zen Bound 2 ($7.99)

Now, Zen Bound 2 – an iPad exclusive – pounces on to the scene. What’s new? How much more 3D-rific is it? Oh I’ll save you the “horror” and just say Zen Bound 2 straight up EXPLOITS the iPad of its full graphic and animation capacities. If you think the original was epic, this is even better!

Recap

Zen Bound is a 3D puzzle game, where you tie rope around virtual wooden figures, which paint the figures a colour. Your goal is to paint the figures to AT LEAST 75% in order to pass that level, and you earn another flower for each milestone you break (75%, 85%, and 99%). This game is simple, and placed a central focus upon the sheer graphics rendering capabilities that the iPhone and iPod touch possessed. But that was from iPhone 2G on up, so we never saw it’s true colours, because the graphics had to be backwards compatibility. Now, we have a version in beautiful 1024×768, and it is AMAZING.

Clearly, in this game, graphics are priority number one above all else, and that is apparent. This game is my model game to show off my iPad. “Hey, why did you want an iPad, isn’t that just a big iPod touch?” *Opens Zen Bound 2* “Ooh, pretty”. This is the game to show if you want to impress people. The art and graphics are flawless and render perfectly, no matter how hard I tried to make it bug out.

The gameplay doesn’t suffer at all, and it truly achieves its goal of zen. The audio is soothing and professional, and the whole aura is not one of rushed action game, but of slow paced puzzler. Tying rope around figurines seems simple and boring, but is actually an excellent and amusing style of play.

Zen Bound 2 deserves its new version number – it comes with tonnes of new worlds (trees), and is an even BIGGER, badder, and “zenner” version of Zen Bound.

What’s New

• Full HD graphics, bringing the zen to an all new level. This involves crupser graphics, more detailed background and shadowing effects. Even BETTER “puzzle trees”.
• New worlds with many new levels
• Support for more touches, to better control the game.
• Reworked UI to take advantage of the bigger screen.

Suggestions

• Local multiplayer – race to the finish.

Conclusion

Zen Bound 2. You love the game, or you hate it. This is an amazing game, and fulfills its role to the fullest extent. I love playing this game, both on iPhone (the original at least) and iPad, and this is worthy of my excellent score of 9.5/10.