Spilt Milk Studios‘ Andrew Smith is N+1 today. To celebrate himself turning one year older, he’s crafted that age-old app marketing scheme: he’s made his hit retro arcade hit Hard Lines free today. Kotaku praises it for its personality, meanwhile Edge claims it to be “original, funny and intense.”

At first, I thought Hard Lines was a bit like YYR Games’ XBLIG title Snake 360/361. Sure, both games use the classic Snake gameplay as their root mechanic. But after a few plays on the iPad, I felt the game had a charm of its own. Hard Lines sports multiple game modes and multiple “personalities” that play as the other AI snakes.

For me, Hard Lines’ local modes afford me the enjoyment of playing online – particularly the snark comments- without having to actually hear anyone! The graphics are slick and bright, with Retina support for the smaller iDevices; I almost want to play it with the lights out.

Check out the flashy, fun trailer:

Ready to help celebrate Andrew’s birthday?? Download Hard Lines for free, and rate his game afterward. His hard earned ratings will make for the best birthday presents ever! [Edit: the game is now $0.99, which is pretty close to free.]

Does anyone else hope his next game tells the story of that poor carton of spilt milk, complete with a redeeming ending?