Rubik's Bloxx Twister

Have you ever solved a Rubik's Cube puzzle? Thought not. Bet you know someone who has, though, right? Everybody seems to when you mention the Rubik's Cube, the cultural gimmick/ icon of the 1980s.

Thankfully it's not an issue that you're likely to encounter with Rubik's Bloxx Twister, which bears a closer resemblance to classic puzzlers like Tetris or Lumines than it does its cuboid forebear.

Set in what is now a familiar collection of screen furniture, the playing area slowly fills with coloured blocks. But rather than dropping in from the top of the screen, a la Tetris, or from the side like Lumines, they pop up from underneath.

The rate at which each new row emerges is determined by your progress through the game. The higher the level you reach, the faster they appear.

By now it'll no doubt be apparent to you that the object of the game is to clear all of these blocks. In Rubik's Bloxx Twister this involves making rows or columns of three blocks of the same colour.

This is achieved by positioning the yellow cursor – precisely two blocks wide – over two blocks of your choosing, and then flipping them. So, if a red block was on the left and a white one on the right of the cursor, their positions would be reversed.

It sounds like a simple concept, certainly no more complicated than any of the games it shares so many of its traits with. But in play it's a rather different experience, and it'll take you a good 15 minutes or so before you're completely at ease with it, which is quite some time for a mobile game.

Since you can only flip blocks horizontally – there's no way to make the cursor stand up on one end – you start off being flummoxed and the first level seems way too hard. The tutorial that takes you through the basic controls and rules of the game doesn't help at all, either.

But once things fall into place, Rubik's Bloxx Twister takes off.

Scanning your collection of blocks for potential matches and looking for chain reactions, where the blocks disappearing from your first match act as the catalyst for another match, becomes a satisfying challenge.

Two power-ups add further interest. Matching three bomb blocks will cause them to detonate, taking the surrounding ordinary blocks with them. Special Rubik's blocks assist you even further. Contained within a coloured block, when matched with two other ordinary coloured blocks it'll make all the blocks of that colour in the playing area disappear, too.

Yet Rubik's Bloxx Twister still feels like a game that needs more substance. With only one playing mode, you just keep going through the levels until the blocks reach the top of the screen and it's game over. There are no new power-ups, no new colours to add to the existing collection and little, really, as a goal to work towards.

It's a shame because the game isn't bad to play and genuinely provides a different experience, at least early on. But once you've got the tactics down, there's not really enough to keep you coming back for more.

So while you might get the same answer when you ask someone if they've solved Rubik's Bloxx Twister as you would when you ask if they've finished the Rubik's Cube, you won't find anyone who knows someone who has.

Rubik's Bloxx Twister

Offers some new puzzle ideas, but there's not enough innovation to keep it satisfying in the long-term
Score