Tower Bloxx: My City

Skyscrapers often divide opinion.

For some, the way their shard-like structures grab the attention for miles around, and their tinted glass changes colour depending on the weather or time of day is a thing of wonder.

Others think the modern fashion for very tall, steel and glass buildings looks dangerous, as if the most gentle gust of wind would send them tipping to the ground, squashing thousands in the process.

Arty and profound type that I am, I've always sided with the former, although if I suspected the building methods used to construct skyscrapers were in any way similar to those practised in Tower Bloxx: My City, I'd be running for the hills.

Stack city

It's fair to say that building in Tower Bloxx should have little relation to the actual art of construction. Instead, this is a game that focuses on timing and, a Jenga-like, balance.

The task at hand is to build a skyscraper by dropping the floors of each tower on top of each other. Each quadrant swings from a crane at the top of the screen – building from the ground up given a new twist here – with pressing the '5' key releasing the piece at hand and sending it crashing towards the ground.

As you might expect, key to your success is your ability to stack each tower as in line as possible. The more out of whack the pieces are with each other, the wilder the tower swings, making it harder to place each piece on top of each other accurately.

Should you miss completely, the top couple of floors will fall to the ground, with each level – whether you play in quick play mode, or as part of a campaign – providing you with three lives.

Urban effort

This is near identical to all previous releases in the franchise, so Digital Chocolate – in an ill-advised move – has attempted to extend what is an overtly simple, straightforward and successful game into something more substantial.

The aforementioned My City Mode strings together each skyscraper you construct by placing them in a grid, the idea being to fill the map with towers you can build and upgrade in order to send to population soaring.

However, rather than proving the game's worth, it essentially shows how one dimensional Tower Bloxx: My City is.

After stacking a couple of buildings, it's fairly likely you'll have had more than enough, the prospect of doing it again and again – and going higher and higher in the process – hardly an attractive one.

As such, Tower Bloxx: My City is the perfect example of a one trick pony extended too far. Sturdy enough to stand up to the odd five play minute session, its ambitions sadly fall to the floor when tested at length.