Burn the Rope 3D Review

Burn the Rope 3D pretty much delivers what its title promises: A puzzle game that plays very similarly to Big Blue Bubble’s popular Burn the Rope, but with the inclusion of a third dimension. It’s a small change on paper, but it still adds significant depth to the rope-burning puzzles that made the initial game so popular in the first place.

Like its predecessor, Burn the Rope 3D stars an everlasting flame sprite that’s pretty eager to spread its fire across a series of ropes (fire in general takes propagation very seriously). When you’re ready to burn, you touch a match to some on-screen ropes and watch the flames eat ’em up. Ideally, you want to burn everything, but you’re allowed to pass the level if you clear at least 60% of your target.

Burn the Rope 3D

You might think, “Gee, how hard is it to burn everything to the ground?” Turns out it’s harder than you think. Flames only stay alive as long as they’re travelling upwards in Burn the Rope 3D. If they remain upside-down for too long, they sputter and die. In the original Burn the Rope, you fuel the fire by constantly turning your mobile device so that the flame continuously takes an upward path. In Burn the Rope 3D, you rotate the puzzle itself in order to keep the fires stoked.

Bugs and colored ropes also return to fill the same roles they play in Burn the Rope. The different-colored ropes that appear in most stages can only be burned by a flame of the same color. If you roast a colored ant crawling along the ropes (can you hear the tiny screams?), the flame changes to match the bug’s hue. With a careful combination of foresight and reckless burning, you should be able to reduce each puzzle into piles of hemp ash.

By
Share this
  • Share this on Facebook
  • Share this on Twitter

Furious, fiery fun

Burn the Rope 3D pretty much delivers what its title promises: A puzzle game that plays very similarly to Big Blue Bubble’s popular Burn the Rope, but with the inclusion of a third dimension. It’s a small change on paper, but it still adds significant depth to the rope-burning puzzles that made the initial game so popular in the first place.

Like its predecessor, Burn the Rope 3D stars an everlasting flame sprite that’s pretty eager to spread its fire across a series of ropes (fire in general takes propagation very seriously). When you’re ready to burn, you touch a match to some on-screen ropes and watch the flames eat ’em up. Ideally, you want to burn everything, but you’re allowed to pass the level if you clear at least 60% of your target.

Burn the Rope 3D

You might think, “Gee, how hard is it to burn everything to the ground?” Turns out it’s harder than you think. Flames only stay alive as long as they’re travelling upwards in Burn the Rope 3D. If they remain upside-down for too long, they sputter and die. In the original Burn the Rope, you fuel the fire by constantly turning your mobile device so that the flame continuously takes an upward path. In Burn the Rope 3D, you rotate the puzzle itself in order to keep the fires stoked.

Bugs and colored ropes also return to fill the same roles they play in Burn the Rope. The different-colored ropes that appear in most stages can only be burned by a flame of the same color. If you roast a colored ant crawling along the ropes (can you hear the tiny screams?), the flame changes to match the bug’s hue. With a careful combination of foresight and reckless burning, you should be able to reduce each puzzle into piles of hemp ash.

Burn the Rope 3D

Burn the Rope 3D‘s three-dimensional puzzles force you to consider each level from a different angle, so to speak. Sections of rope appear connected until you turn the puzzle on its axis, so it’s not recommended you simply jump into each level with both feet. Curiously, though the 3D gameplay adds complexity to the Burn the Rope formula, it also simplifies it in a way. Turning a puzzle with your fingers is far easier than spinning your mobile device around and apologizing after you elbow your neighbor on the bus.

That said, Burn the Rope 3D might be too similar to Burn the Rope to satisfy burninators looking forward to a “true” sequel from Big Blue Bubble. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen level updates to Burn the Rope, though, so maybe think of Burn the Rope 3D as a level pack. Setting things on fire and roasting bugs like little kernels of Christmas-colored corn is as fun and satisfying as ever, so unless you’re utterly tired of burning up lengths of rope, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy this hot little 3D number. Heck – it even has its own theme song. 

The good

    The bad

      80 out of 100
      In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.