With fronds like this, who needs enemies?

Friday fun time y'all. Yesterday's post about the PS4 was all nerdy and serious so let me send you off into the weekend with a game recommendation.

Jack Lumber is [currently] in my top 10 all time favorite iOS games. There is a great combination of mechanics and challenge in Jack Lumber. A combination that had me slicing logs while waiting in line long after the rest of the world moved on…probably to another Angry Birds game...

Jack's grandmother is body slammed by an evil pine tree, effectively removing her from the mortal coil. Jack sets out to cut a swatch through the forest to avenge his grandmother's death. There is revenge, a love story, a mis-lead oaf, and a talking beaver. Essentially Jack Lumber has it all.

For the sake of being reductive Jack Lumber is a hybrid between Fruit Ninja and that scene from the Matrix where Neo is dodging bullets. During each level bundles of logs are flung up onto the screen. You tap and hold your finger on the touch screen to slow time to a crawl. With time slowed you draw a line though the logs attempting to find an optimal path. Your path needs to cut all of the logs, and you need to find it before your magic time juice runs out.

As with everything in life the idea is simple and the reality complex, The catch in Jack Lumber is that logs have to be cut lengthwise, no cheap half cuts. This caveat requires that your cuts need to be not only quick but precise. The other end to the challenge is learning to quickly discern the ideal path though the logs. Where you place your finger is where your line starts, and once you lift your finger off the screen time returns to normal. You have to commit to your line and make it work. Along the way additional elements, like time logs, will show up to both help and hinder you.

In the higher levels making snap decisions can be quite stressful, and are likely to cause wild gesticulations and expletives. However, when you NAIL the perfect line and chunks of polygonal wood go flying in every direction… well… I think you know.

Jack Lumber is a bit of cheeky fun you can enjoy in short bursts. It runs 1.99 for a universal app on the iTunes store. Unfortunately its iOS only (for now) sorry Android people.

iTunes App Store