Game Reviews

BloxBox

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BloxBox
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The history of the puzzle genre is built in coloured blocks. There have been other shapes - ones with rounded edges or gem-like appearances - but the simple square will always hold a place in the heart of puzzling aficionados.

BloxBox continues that tradition of four-sided uniformity but it adds a few new twists, some sensible touchscreen controls, and a level-shifting mechanic. The result is an engaging, albeit brief puzzling experience.

Boxing game

The aim of the game is to get a white block onto a yellow one. You move the white block by swiping across the screen. It'll move in the direction you swipe - left, right, up, or down - until it hits an obstacle or gets caught by one of the various gates that fill the levels.

The twist is you need to rearrange the levels to finish them. Tapping on the screen lets you slide the tiles of each level around, letting you build solutions to the problems the game presents you with. Each level adds a new layer of trouble.

You'll need to bypass squares that can only be passed once, build alleyways to your goals, and use your skills to collect the three stars that are strategically placed on every level.

Getting the square to the finish line is often simple, but grabbing all of the stars, and thus the highest score, can be fiendishly tough.

A little boxed in

Thinking through the different layers of puzzling makes for an intriguingly different style of gameplay, mixing logic with the kind of split-second timing you'd generally find in a tough platformer.

When you need to time your taps to make sure the box doesn't cascade into oblivion, things can get pretty fraught.

It's just a shame that the game is lacking when it comes to content. While the levels do offer some replayability, you'll have seen them all within an hour or two, and there’s a lack of visual variety that makes things feel a little dull.

Still, if you're looking for a well thought-out variation on the cubist themes of puzzle gaming you could do a lot worse than picking up BloxBox. For all of its failings it's still an enjoyable, often fiendish, and novel way to play.

BloxBox

With a bit more content, BloxBox could be a classic. As it is, it's just highly recommended
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.