Yesterday, I noticed that one of my favorite games on the iPod Touch (or iPhone) was updated, and I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity to mention it to all of you.  That game, of course, is Trace, which is just an incredibly creative and original addition to your iPhone or iPod Touch.  It was among  the first games I downloaded when I bought the original iPod Touch, and is still among my favorites today.

In this game, you control a small person.  The only thing you need to do is guide the person to the exit (which is the yellow starburst).  Use the arrows to move him forward or backward, and the little blue triangle to jump.  Along the way, you there will be numerous obstacles blocking your path.  Touch any of these obstacles and you will need to begin the level anew. 

The game starts off easily enough, but before long those obstacles are going to require some creativity.  For that, we bring in the element of the game’s namesake, trace.  To trace a line, all you need to do is drag your finger across the screen.  You can draw a line anywhere on the screen, providing a new path for your character to follow.  If you make a mistake, just toggle from draw mode to erase or just hit retry to start fresh.

It all sounds so simple, but watch out because this game gets difficult fast…and then keeps right on going, with 120 levels divided into six differently themed worlds (paint, water, plant, chalk, volcano, and space).  Needless to say, this one is going to get pretty interesting along the way.

In addition to providing a simple and creative game, Trace also features fantastic graphics.  In what has become somewhat more common in the time since Trace was released, the graphics resemble simple hand drawn doodles.  The whole thing just screams fun…and then lives up to that expectation in spades.  It quickly became one of my favorite games, which led immediately to both my sons picking up the game.  Before long, all three of us were hopefully addicted to guiding that little guy through worlds upon worlds of doodles.  What a fantastic game. 

Trace is available for free from the iTunes App Store.