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Review: BlockGo
BlockGo (and the smaller BlockGo Lite) is a nice little puzzler to add to your phone for whiling away the time in the queues at your local gift emporium this Christmas. Designed for touch screen S60 5th editions, you'll have seen this genre of game a few times, but the style here sets it apart from many as polished and presentable.
The game itself is based on getting a single block out of a grid of many blocks and a few spaces. You can slide any of these blocks around, with the ultimate goal being to slide your target block out of the gap in the grid – in this case on the right of the playing area.
Yes it sounds simple, these things always do, and if you can approach each level with a logical eye you can work it out – but there's also plenty of scope to do a Rubik's Cube solution and just move things around until something becomes a bit clearer.
What does stay clear is the graphics. While it would be very difficult to get “grid of tiles with some coloured boxes” wrong in terms of the UI and presentation, BlockGo reaches beyond that level to present something that's both functional and pleasing to look at. Assuming you can handle about 60% cute added to your menus, you'll enjoy moving around the tiny world created in the background graphics. Otherwise just grit your teeth and hit either New Game or Select Level to get going.
BlockGo Lite, the freeware version, has the first 20 levels, while the full version BlockGo, carries 99. Apart from that, everything else is the same (yes it's the old shareware model adapted for the new world of App Stores).
If you want to move a block, just tap and drag it to where you want to go. If you're slow and careful, the block will have pixel perfect movement under the stylus. Flick and go for a faster game and there is a tiny lag before the block jumps to its final destination. This is the only let down, I would have liked to see this be more responsive and smooth, although it doesn't harm the gameplay.
And what gameplay – lots of puzzles that will probably take a week or so of playing in odd moments. Each level takes a few minutes to play, so it's a perfect mobile game with a little mental reward for finishing each level coming along at regular and frequent levels, plus the added challenge of trying to get the “Gold Cup” on each level for completing each level in the minimum number of moves. Which is easy on the first few levels but, if you've got compulsive tendencies, the later levels will be played many times trying to crack this.
BlockGo is a great game for mobile. It's more than filler and keeps you entertained. Neither is it a huge gaming masterpiece that will hold you for 40 hours of adventure and cut-scenes... but that's not what mobile gaming is always about. It's a good price point, provides a substantial challenge, and has presentation that you're not embarrassed to show off. Definitely worthwhile.
-- Ewan Spence, Dec 09
BlockGo (and the smaller BlockGo Lite) is a nice little puzzler to add to your phone for whiling away the time in the queues at your local gift emporium this Christmas. Designed for touch screen S60 5th editions, you'll have seen this genre of game a few times, but the style here sets it apart from many as polished and presentable.
The game itself is based on getting a single block out of a grid of many blocks and a few spaces. You can slide any of these blocks around, with the ultimate goal being to slide your target block out of the gap in the grid – in this case on the right of the playing area.
Yes it sounds simple, these things always do, and if you can approach each level with a logical eye you can work it out – but there's also plenty of scope to do a Rubik's Cube solution and just move things around until something becomes a bit clearer.
What does stay clear is the graphics. While it would be very difficult to get “grid of tiles with some coloured boxes” wrong in terms of the UI and presentation, BlockGo reaches beyond that level to present something that's both functional and pleasing to look at. Assuming you can handle about 60% cute added to your menus, you'll enjoy moving around the tiny world created in the background graphics. Otherwise just grit your teeth and hit either New Game or Select Level to get going.
BlockGo Lite, the freeware version, has the first 20 levels, while the full version BlockGo, carries 99. Apart from that, everything else is the same (yes it's the old shareware model adapted for the new world of App Stores).
If you want to move a block, just tap and drag it to where you want to go. If you're slow and careful, the block will have pixel perfect movement under the stylus. Flick and go for a faster game and there is a tiny lag before the block jumps to its final destination. This is the only let down, I would have liked to see this be more responsive and smooth, although it doesn't harm the gameplay.
And what gameplay – lots of puzzles that will probably take a week or so of playing in odd moments. Each level takes a few minutes to play, so it's a perfect mobile game with a little mental reward for finishing each level coming along at regular and frequent levels, plus the added challenge of trying to get the “Gold Cup” on each level for completing each level in the minimum number of moves. Which is easy on the first few levels but, if you've got compulsive tendencies, the later levels will be played many times trying to crack this.
BlockGo is a great game for mobile. It's more than filler and keeps you entertained. Neither is it a huge gaming masterpiece that will hold you for 40 hours of adventure and cut-scenes... but that's not what mobile gaming is always about. It's a good price point, provides a substantial challenge, and has presentation that you're not embarrassed to show off. Definitely worthwhile.
-- Ewan Spence, Dec 09
Posted in: Reviews/Previews
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