After the superb but mysterious Downwell last week, let’s take a look at a game that is, in many ways, the typical mobile game: simple, satisfying and incredibly addictive.

Loop Dots is one of the many ‘join-the-dots’ games available on iOS. The basic premise is that each level contains a collection of dots of various different colours. The player has to join up several dots of the same colour by dragging their finger across the screen, to make them disappear and complete the level.

As you can probably imagine, Loop Dots is an instantly accessible game. The first few levels are incredibly easy, and the satisfaction of lining up dot after dot and getting to watch the others collapse into the space left in their wake is enough to keep you playing.

However, it gets more interesting as the player gets further into the game. To keep things fresh, Loop Dots introduces levels with different goals other than ‘get rid of X amount of dots’.

There are levels in which you are tasked with getting rid of a number of certain coloured dots; there are levels in which you have to remove dots in order to get badges to the bottom of the screen; on some levels you’ll find yourself on a timer, or popping bubbles, or even breaking dots encased with glass.

Whilst none of these ideas are mind-blowing, they demand a modicum of strategy from the player other than ‘get any dots that happen to fall into a line’. As the game progresses, you’ll find yourself stumped on more than one occasion.

The only levels that don’t work particularly well are the timed levels. Loop Dots is a game about taking your time, assessing the situation in relation to your goal and choosing the very best move. In most levels, rushing will lead to failure. As a result, when the game demands that you rush, it’s such a change of pace that I found it impossible to get used to.

When the game’s difficulty does ramp up, you are given access to special tools to ease the challenge. You can undo a move (very handy if you’re a bit trigger happy), you can smash blocks with a hammer, and you can even shuffle the levels to give you a bit more a fighting chance.

As I alluded to in my opening paragraph, Loop Dots has many features that can be found in most mobile games, so of course there’s the Angry Birds three star rating system of each level that gives you a better rating if you finish with fewer moves. I suppose the clichés exist for a reason… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The title of the game refers to the mechanic in which you can ‘loop’ around dots to gain power-ups. If dots fall into a convenient square, you can connect them to get rid of every dot of the same colour in the level. If you manage to trap a dot within a cage of other dots, it can turn into a special dot, giving the player a range on benefits.

Best of all, Loop Dots is completely free and its adverts are not incessant to the point where they become intrusive, as with many free mobile games.

Whilst mobile games have evolved now to the point where you can play games that at one point where ground-breaking whilst waiting for the bus, there will always be a place for the Loop Dots of the world: simple, fun and addictive to the extent that, if you are playing it whilst waiting at a bus stop, you might end up missing a few.

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