CrossRoads by FABULAPPS is a line-drawing game available in the App Store for just $1.99. It has a rich presentation, with lots of attention to detail. Although, the overall gameplay didn’t really jive with me as much as I would have liked it too.

As far as line-drawing games go, CrossRoads is more a less a slower paced linear take on the genre. Linear as in you must draw the lines around streets from a random starting point to a specific destination, depending on what kind of vehicle appears. Which is to say if a bus appears you have to direct it to the school, for instance. Alternatively when an ambulance appears you have to direct it to the hospital and so forth, where each map has its own unique vehicles and destinations. This linear design is completely opposite from other line drawing games, such as: Flight Control or Harbor Master. In which the levels are confined and less open forcing the player to direct traffic around pre-determined paths.

For fans of the line drawing genre CrossRoad‘s gameplay experience may come across as either amazing, or monotonous, slow and dull. It’s really hit or miss and depends entirely on your personal preference.

Noteworthy Props:

• Rich & Charming presentation
• Lots of content with great variety to enjoy
• Includes more content via in-app purchases

Major Complaints:

• Gameplay is slow and dull compared to other line drawing games on the platform

CrossRoads does well to provide a rich and polished presentation, and comes correct with plenty of content to justify that $1.99 price tag (3 maps included plus 4 more maps available via in-app purchases). It even sprinkles flawless social integration on top via OpenFeint and of course the standard Twitter and Facebook icons just tempting you to publish your score every time you lose (thus marketing/proliferating the game across the social networks). There’s also a multiplayer mode that allows two players to sync a game via local WiFi or Bluetooth, where you battle against each other for top score and have interesting ways to interact with the other game like being able to send traffic from one device to the other amongst others.

However when it’s all said and done CrossRoads stumbles a bit (in my opinion) with its gameplay. In that it’s a concept that sounds great on paper, a concept that is developed and implemented perfectly (by FABULAPPS), and its technically sound, but it’s just not much fun for my tastes.

Score 3/5

I really wanted to like this game, with its very well done presentation, lots of attention to detail, and plenty of variety in content included. If you’re a fan of line-drawing games you might want to go into this one with a little caution, by checking out this gameplay video first, before taking the plunge. If you’re not a fan of line-drawing games at all, then you might want to skip this one entirely.

Cross Roads on the App Store.