I'm amazed by anyone who can take Line Rider and make those absolutely fantastically created tracks, which feature things that look like actual portraits rather than a bunch of lines haphazardly thrown together. I'm impressed by their creativity, but also by the sheer fact they can create anything with the controls of this game. The latest Line Rider console release – Line Rider: Unbound 2 – is an episode in frustration, which shows that if at first you don't succeed, try and try again. If that doesn't work, try and try again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again…

Wii Line Rider
Line Rider: Unbound 2 features an actual story mode, which consists of the player trying to figure out the solutions for over 40 tracks. In each level there are lines already in place, but with green boxes highlighting areas where pieces of the track are missing, and it's up to the user to discern what type of track or drawing needs to go there so that our little happy slider can reach the finish line at the end of the course. Then, once so many levels are done, a little cartoon will run, which details the story of our hero Bosh versus his rival Chaz, who are each vying for the hand of the lovely Bailey.

The cartoons are cute and played like an old Looney Tunes cartoon featuring the Road Runner, where extreme situations happen, which are beyond the realm of possibility, but yet nobody gets hurt. The cartoons are pretty much the same across both versions, but the Wii's cutscenes are much brighter, crisper, and feature cleaner animations than the DS version. The DS' cutscenes aren't terrible for a handheld, but they are choppier and dirtier.

Meanwhile, the gameplay of Unbound 2 is the same across both the Wii and DS versions. In order to complete a level, you must get your character across the finish line while still gathering all the tokens in the level. Players are only able to draw in the highlighted areas, but within those areas players are free to draw whatever they think will help them get through that situation. The game starts easily enough, with only one or two simple lines needing to be drawn to complete the stage, but later stages are much more expansive, requiring more lines to be thrown down, and more intricate lines too. To complete later levels, for example, you'll have to master loops and proper jumps. Besides drawing the proper lines, players will also have to use the right type of line, which comes in boost, normal, and slow versions.

Though players need to grab tokens in order to complete a level, players can learn to be masters of a level by collecting coins scattered about a stage. Whereas you can sometimes get through a level by not using the exact same lines that were thought of during the creation of the stage, in order to complete the stage and get all the coins, you'll have to know exactly what the designers were thinking in order to grab all the coins.

The biggest difference between the Wii and DS versions when it comes to the controls are the ease of use, since both offer up the same options for drawing lines. Though they feature the same options, each version handles one aspect better than the other. The DS version is better for drawing loops and quickly tweaking lines to feature better curves, but when it comes to tweaking a line after it's been done, it's almost impossible to do so, and you'd be better off just erasing the line and trying again. Another problem with the DS' controls is that it can be difficult connecting lines, which will result in your rider simply falling off the track and crashing because it runs into a line slightly placed above a rise. The DS version, however, is quicker to use since all of the controls are relegated to a punch button system on the screen. As for the Wii version, the game does a great job at automatically connecting placed lines, and tweaking lines is a tad easier than the DS version. On the negative side of things, the loops are harder to do, and it takes a little longer to draw and erase lines, since it takes longer to access the different tools and features.

The story mode has a good length, but it's needlessly long for the wrong reasons. Instead of giving you an abundance of content, the game gives you a decent amount of tracks, but which take a long time to complete due to the trial and error method that rules this game. A level might take only a few minutes to complete once you know how to master a level, but before then you could spend well over twenty or thirty minutes trying and trying again. So you'll look at a level, place what you think will work, let the level play, find how you messed up, then tweak a line ever so slightly to see if that made things better or worse. Once you see how things are screwing up, you'll then continue tweaking and changing things up, experimenting tirelessly until the proper solution is reached. Perhaps puzzle fans will enjoy needlessly tweaking for hours, but I found it boring and repetitive. It's annoying to know what needs to be done, but being unable to do it because of controls or a very miniscule mistake.

DS Line Rider

Outside of the story mode, Unbound 2 also features a free play system, which lets you create levels from a completely blank slate. The blank slate levels are much like the ones you find across countless videos on YouTube, where you can draw with the game's tools and many line types, and then save tracks for later viewing or finishing. Players can also create puzzle levels, much like the ones seen in the single-player portion of the game, and then upload them to the Line Rider site for other players to download and attempt. It's a really nice feature that will certainly extend the life of the game, but if the game doesn't have a large fan base or either a handful of really talented players, expect to play a handful of lines and then tire of the amateurish nature of their attempts.

The biggest difference between the Wii and DS versions is the graphics, which are naturally better on the Wii. The size of the lines on the screen help considerably when drawing tracks, but beyond that the animations are cleaner, characters actually look like something other than a tiny blob, and the backgrounds are prettier than anything the DS could manage. The DS version, however, is a pretty ugly game considering the only thing the game uses for the most part is a bunch of lines. Looking at the main character in the DS version, for example, looks like nothing more than a little blob on a square.

The two versions of Unbound 2 also feature a nauseatingly bad soundtrack, which consists of a handful of tracks that sound like a bunch of Swedish yodelers tried to remix a dance club track. The only good news is that the game can be played in silence. Outside of the music, the game only features a handful of sound effects, such as the rider letting out a "yahoo" or "oomph" while going across the track.

Line Rider: Unbound 2 is a very mediocre game that suffers not only on the technical side of things, but in the gameplay mechanics too. It's simply too frustrating having to constantly try something over and over again. It's not a good frustration either, as you'll be more thankful the torture is over rather than feeling the satisfaction of completing a difficult challenge. The Wii version rates only slightly higher than the DS version, thanks to improved graphics and a slightly easier control scheme for the puzzle mode of the game.

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