All Glory to the Pixel King!

While there are plenty of games that have latched on to the successful Minecraft formula, there are few, on iOS at least, that have tried to build on it. Too often we've seen block-building games that imitate rather than iterate on Mojang's template.

In one way, then, it's refreshing to see All Glory to the Pixel King! try to spread its wings a little. It takes pixelly block-building as the basis for a simple multiplayer strategy game, switching from a first-person to an isometric view point.

Unfortunately, while there is potential here it gets muddied by poor implementation and stability issues.

You start off with a budget and a king, and you need to spend the budget to protect the king. Everything is presented in cute, super-simple blocky graphics, but the simplicity doesn't extend to the gameplay - there are no tutorial or pointers to send you on your way.

You've got a number of different blocks to select from to build your castle, and various different soldiers, from sword-wielding knights to squishy archers, to buy to add some muscle to your holdfast.

You can buy siege engines, too, like battering rams and catapults. The only rule is that you have to leave a route to your king for the other player to exploit.

Once you've built, it's time to test your fortifications against other players' creations.

Rather than engaging in turn-based battles against real people, you take on the game's AI armed with the contraptions and creations of real people.

You'll see a lot of weird and wonderful castles once you start fighting. Some people spend all their cash on warriors, building a wall of angry flesh around their monarch, while others build barracks here and there to launch assaults from.

It's certainly an interesting take on the creative side of the Minecraft ethos, but unfortunately it falls a little flat. There's a distinct lack of information when you're fighting, and usually a conga line of fighters is strong enough to break into any fort.

Throw in connectivity issues - twice in the first few games I played the game kicked me out at a crucial point - and you're left with a product that clearly has potential, but eventually leaves you feeling underwhelmed.

With a few tweaks here and there, and a bit of polish to the battles, All Glory to the Pixel King! could be brilliant. As it is it's a little too frustrating and obscure to really enjoy.