I’m a big fan of the games from Astraware, so when I heard about Big Box of Blox I knew I had to check it out. Big Box of Blox is a block stacking game that may sound a lot like Tetris because pieces move from the top of the screen and must be aligned correctly so that they can be removed from the screen. However, as I quickly found out, this game is very different than Tetris, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing…at least for me.

First Impressions

To say the least, the graphics and sounds are both outstanding and unusual. There are five different games available within Blox, and each game has a completely different appearance, soundtrack and set of blox with unique behaviors.

The games have strange names like Flaming Peelout, Blok Atak, Groink, Mushroom King and Asylum Cubez.

There is an additional sixth “Custom” game that allows you to include some or all of the special blox from the other games as well as specify which special rules (Sprout, Speedup and/or Lift) will apply to your custom game. You can also pick which background graphic and soundtrack you want to see and hear during your game. I think this is a great option that allows you to create the ideal Blox game by combining your favorite features from each of the other games.

The soundtracks are hard to describe, but they range from an adrenaline-pumping intensity in Flaming Peelout, to a catchy electronic tune in Groink, and a relaxing and cheerful theme in Mushroom They are all interesting in their own way, and I like the fact that you can pick and choose your favorites using the Custom mode.

The goal of the game is to rotate the columns of blox and align 3 or more blox of the same type in a column or row. If you do this, then the blox are removed from the screen along with any other matching blox they are contacting.

The special rules will affect your game play in different ways. The Sprout rule will cause Sprout blox to appear in between the existing blox and you must drop new blox on them to smash them down. The Speedup rule causes the blox to drop faster at the higher levels, and the Lift rule causes the bottom of the level to rise towards the top, giving you less room to move your blox around.

The special blox include Bombs (which blow up surrounding blox when you get three of them); Stones, which can only be removed with Bomb blox; Jokers which can be matched with two other matching blox to create a set of three; Cage blox which contain other blox that are released when you get three Cage blox together; Question Mark blox that turn into slot machines and cause different things to happen; and Slug Blox that don’t match but can be squished to be gotten rid of.

My initial impression was that this looked like a fun game and I was ready to start playing.

Playing the Game – This Isn’t Anything Like Tetris

I used to be a big Tetris fan and played countless hours in the distant past. However, the specialized skills I learned playing Tetris (rotate, left, left, DROP!) aren’t dead. This was initially a problem for me because the skills needed for Blox are quite different than Tetris and it took me a while to get over my old habits.

Unlike Tetris which has blocks arranged into different shapes, the blox in Big Box of Blox are always arranged in stacks of three. You can flip the stack of blox or you can rotate the blox in the stack as shown below (from left to right, the blox are flipped once and then rotated down three times). You can also move the stack to the left or the right of the screen. But compared to Tetris, your actions are more limited because you are always working with a vertical stack of three blox. This was initially frustrating because I kept wishing I could do things that weren’t allowed, but I eventually realized Blox is simply a different game with different rules and strategies that I had to learn.

I eventually overcame my old habits and started to get better at playing Big Box of Blox, which greatly improved my ability to enjoy and appreciate the game on its own merits.

One problem I did run into is that the game doesn’t come with any documentation and the online help doesn’t do much beyond describe the different types of blox and special rules. This was fine for getting started, but it didn’t describe how you progressed between levels, explain why there is a stack of shapes on the right of the screen that appear and disappear, or what is happing on the left side of the screen while you are playing. At first I didn’t notice these things because I was way too busy trying to figure out what I should do with the next stack of falling blox. But after watching a friend play the game I noticed that the shapes on the right would decrease as you removed each row of blox. And there was something on the left that looked like it was showing the current level. When you clear all of the shapes on the right you move to the next level. Of course, this is only my best guess and I was too busy playing the game to be able to take a closer look.

Conclusion

After I got used to playing Big Box of Blox, I concluded that it was a pretty decent game and I really appreciate the attention to the visuals and sounds the developers put into it. However, even though I’ve become better at playing the game, I’m still not that great at it. This may just be due to my limited game playing skills, but in my opinion, Big Box of Box doesn’t provide the same level of instant gratification and addiction that I have had with other Astraware games.

I’ve heard that some people that never really liked Tetris are big fans of Big Box of Blox, so whether you liked Tetris or not, I would recommend you download the demo version and give it a try. You may be like me and struggle with Big Box of Blox as you overcome your Tetris habits, or you may find that you pick up the game very quickly. It is definitely worth a look if only for the interesting graphics and sounds.

Pros

• Unique theme with high-quality graphics and sounds

• Comes with five pre-defined games, each with a unique appearance and ambiance
• Custom game mode lets you pick and choose your favorite features from each of the five pre-defined games
• Special blox and special rules provide a variety of challenges, require different strategies and keep the game interesting
• Customizable difficulty levels allow you to start out easy or jump right into the most challenging speeds

Cons

• The graphics and sounds are a bit unusual and may not be for everybody

• In-game documentation is fairly basic and doesn’t really describe certain parts of the game.
• Tetris users may struggle with the game while overcoming old habits

Tested using a Treo 700p

(Requires PalmOS 5 and 320×320 or higher resolution screen.)

Related Links

Buy Big Box of Blox for Palm OS

Buy Big Box of Blox for Windows Mobile 5

Other games from Astraware

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Filed under: Software reviews