R.I.P. — This Maze Will Kill Your Time

It may not be close to Halloween, but R.I.P will put you in the spirit. While this new game is light on depth, it does a nice job at killing a few minutes of time.

The premise is pretty simple. You are a ghost trying to make your way back to your happy little home amongst the dead. Using both touch and tilt movements you must find a grave marked "R.I.P." in the quickest time possible. The game then records the time and keeps a list of the best ones. Unfortunately there are no levels to pass or different types of terrain — so improving your score is the main challenge you will face.

R.I.P. does also have one extra plus over other apps. Games for the iPhone/iPod Touch generally have the worst music since the New Kids on the Block last performed. But the sounds on R.I.P. are actually quite good. It is a steady set of spooky sounds and howls that fit in well with the environment. No annoying pseudo-Muzak. Just pure fright-night howls.

The controls take a bit of getting used to. You must both rely on the accelerometer and touch screen to navigate your ghoul. Touching the screen points you in a particular direction, while tilting the screen will change the angle. For some additional help in the beginning, leave on the "hint" option and a red arrow appears on-screen to guide you in the right direction. There also is an option to control how foggy it is on screen should you want a clearer path or a more challenging one.

Hopefully there are some more updates planned because R.I.P. becomes a bit repetitive after a few runs. And there are other ghosts who float around but they are purely for background. Some additional levels and other challenges would make this a game worth playing many times over.