Waterfall

Monument Valley is everything you could want out of a mobile game.

Monument Valley ($3.99) is a truly remarkable experience. It’s essentially M.C. Escher: The Game. You control a young girl in a strange world full of bizarre constructs. By manipulating perspective, you can traverse otherwise impossible obstacles in the terrain. The art style is beautiful, the music haunting, and the gameplay quite enjoyable.

Like all great mobile games, Monument Valley is broken up into short levels. These bite-size chunks last just long enough to be entertaining without forcing you to commit for too long. The designers clearly kept in mind the length of a typical train ride (or bathroom break).

While playing Monument Valley, I was reminded of one of my all-time favorite games, Portal. In both games, you solve puzzles by bending the usual rules that govern reality. And in both games, when you finally have that “Eureka!” moment and figure out the puzzle, you feel incredibly smart. A genius I am most certainly not, so these little rushes were quite rewarding for me.

There was something of a brouhaha when the designers released the first expansion pack, Forgotten Shores, because they had the gall to charge a whopping $1.99 for it. The expansion has a number of new levels and mechanics and further develops a game that was already legitimate art.

I’m not sure about anyone else, but for me, a total of $6 for many hours of amusement is a pretty good deal. Go get this game.