App of the Week: The Impossible Line

This week's app is a game called The Impossible Line by Chillingo. If you play games on your mobile phone, you've probably already heard about this game. It's highly addictive and you may find yourself playing it for hours. It's a total time sucker. Consider this your official warning.

The object of the game is to draw a line from an arrow to a target while avoiding obstacles. Easy enough, right? The catch in this game, however, is that as soon as you tap your finger to begin drawing a line -- the obstacles disappear and you must rely on your memory.

This feels a little like walking through your house in complete darkness except you keep bumping into walls! Naturally, the puzzles get more challenging as you progress.

I love playing this game on the subway during my commute. I have a personal rule about not spending real money on games though, so I can only get so far with the power-ups. (The only time I broke that spending rule was for Can You Escape? and that was an accident... eh-chem). 

The only issue I have with The Impossible Line is their use of advertising. I completely understand the need for monetization in mobile games. I worked in the industry so yeah, I get it. It's essential for most apps. The difference with The Impossible Line's ads is that they are absolutely non-stop and actually become distracting from the chalkboard gameplay. Also, the ads are never about anything I'm even remotely interested in purchasing. In fact, if you watch this gameplay video by lonniedos, you'll see how truly invasive the ads really are:

I would definitely appreciate The Impossible Line more if their ads were less frequent and more organic. That said, I will probably keep playing, at least until I can get beyond some difficult levels.

What's your favorite mobile game right now?