Labyrinth, from Codify AB, is an A-Mazing Game

Labyrinth, developed by Carl Loodberg of Codify AB, is a piece of work. It's hard to imagine so simple a concept could be rendered so realistically on the iPhone and iPod touch.

Labyrinth is a classic. Guide a steel ball from one end of a maze to the other by tilting the "box" (side-to-side and front-to-back) and along the way, navigate around holes that threaten to swallow the unwary.

Labyrinth Lite is fifth on the App Store's 2008 best-selling apps overall and second in the games category. It's easy to understand its popularly and glowing reviews.

The graphics are beautifully rendered, the sounds of the ball rolling and dropping into holes are realistic, and most important, the game plays like the genuine article.

Labyrinth Lite has 10 levels. It's free and that's one you want if you're interested in seeing how well the game plays. The full-featured version, which is $6.99, has 500 levels and climbing. You can create your own mazes on Codify AB's site and download them, and the mazes of other contributors, to play on your iPhone.

Although making game levels is easy, I found many of the contributed versions either ridiculous (i.e. unbeatable) or unimaginative.

Labyrinth has only a few settings: game time limit, sound and vibration. The vibration option is experimental, according the developer. The iPhone vibrates when you lose a ball. On the same page are two simulated bubble levels to calibrate the level at which you should hold the iPhone but I found tapping the "Calibrate" button didn't appear to make any difference.

For $6.99, the last thing I would expect to see is a big ad on the game's home screen for one of the developer's other games, but there you have it. Although the game's design is noteworthy, playing it becomes quickly boring, so the price seems high to me.

The ad and price kept me from giving this game a better score. Try the Lite version of Labyrinth first.