1st Impressions

Two new games have hit the App store recently that follow in the genre of those parking lot puzzles or traffic puzzles where you attempt to move the pieces around until you free a designated one. In this case, the designated one is appropriatly identified as the Blue Block. The clean interface of the game is due in large part to the lack of concentration on different kinds and/colors of vehicles. This game offers a simple GUI and graphics that do not distract from the goal at hand.  It makes up for that typical eye-candy with a massive puzzle database. When I say massive, I mean to convey an almost limitless supply.

Blue Blocks is currently free and contains a virtually endless number of levels (literally tens of thousands) starting with kiddy difficulty levels and immediate levels and going up. Virtual endless game play at a current price of zero should be a no brainer… ButWait!!!!  There’s More!!!

Not to be satisfied with the free Blue Block game, the developers took a common genre and stepped it up a notch. They added an additional blue block. This makes any given level twice as difficult. The almost 4,500 games in this pack are devided between medium, hard, and expert difficulties. If you want something at the kiddie or easy level, go back to the free game.  The difficulty levels seem well set. My attempt at the very first level ended me finishing with close to twice as many moves as it could have been done by a master at these. I learned real quick that I am no master. LOL

The game interface is simple.  Pieces slide with the swipe of a finger just as you would expect.  The status bar across the top displays your chosen difficulty level, the puzzle level you are working on, the number of moves you should be able to complete it in, and, in my case above, the fact that it took me almost twice that to complete it.  Once a level is complete, you can choose to re-play it and try to better your score or to move on to the next level.

I do have a few suggestions for the game(s).  First, I like it when a game has multiple player profiles.  My iPhone is the only one in the house and more than one person plays games on it.  Second, while I would not like a timer to stress me while I played the game, it would be nice if the level selection screen that showed how many moves a complete level took also displayed the time it took you.  Where this could really benefit is if the game added an online leader board that showed a score calculation based on your speed and a percentage of par.  Ability to optionally post these scores to Twitter and/or Facebook as some other games allow would not only allow for a bit of bragging, but also drive some attention to the game.  Finally, I would love to be able to move a piece, change my mind, and move it back without it counting as a move.  My scores are going to be plenty high as it is without my fat-finger mistakes adding to it.

Overall, I’d give this pair of games a solid 10 out of 10.  They make my Must Have list and have replaced any of the competing products on my iPhone.  Close to 40,000 combined levels for a total price of $0.99 is an incredible bargain.  If you want to try the double-block harder levels without the $0.99 expense, there is even a lite version that offers 50 puzzles for you to try.  My recommendation is to skip that though and grab Blue Block while it is free and Blue Block Double while developer still has it at a $0.99 price.  It’s worth a lot more.