Some time ago, in a conversation about WiiWare as I recall, Cory told me he was playing a neat puzzle game called Groovin' Blocks. While his taste is (nearly) impeccable, I didn't act on his recommendation at the time. I wasn't really sure about it, it really wasn't jumping out at me, and there had already been a handful of times I'd been burned by something that had jumped out at me. So, for the time being, I gave it a pass.
But now Zoo has picked up Empty Clip's game for disc release, and the good people there sent along a copy for review, so I gave it a spin. Ten minutes in, I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with myself for having passed on such a fun little game originally.
Groovin' Blocks is a match-three falling-block puzzler with one key twist, played with either a sideways Remote or the Classic Controller. On either side of the playfield, beats scroll by in time with the currently-playing song—they're usually, but not always, following along in a simple quarter-note fashion—and if you drop your pieces on the beat, you'll be on your way toward earning point bonuses and multipliers. There are also rare special beats called "Superbeats" which give you massive and immediate multiplier bonuses for maximum scoring possibilities. They appear at specific points in each song, so you'll find it rewarding to revisit each level several times until you can feel them coming.
Dropping pieces on the beat is also important for use of powerups; as in, if you don't drop the piece containing the powerup block on the beat, the powerup will vanish as the pieces dim into the depressingly darkened collection of blocks that remind you of your failure. Keep on the beat and they stay bright, and you can use those powerups (with effects like exploding unrelated nearby blocks or giving score bonuses) any time you can get them to match into a confluent mass involving at least one row or column of three.
The techno stylings of Mercer Friendly and Soliton lend a very catchy soundtrack to the proceedings here. In the disc version, there's twice as much music as there was in the original WiiWare version, which fans of that should be pleased to hear. I'm hard-pressed to say there was a song I didn't like, though I felt some were more enjoyable to actually play than others. Between the soundtrack and the simple, clean graphical style, the presentation is quite nice indeed.
The sole complaint I have with the game is one that is actually easily resolvable—if blocks are dropped off-beat, they turn dim as they land, and it becomes a bit less immediately obvious which is which when I'm trying to make matches and clear them. But in the options menu, there's a "color blind" option that gives the differently-colored blocks distinguishable shapes, and this solves that problem very neatly. (Also found in the options menu are settings to calibrate the game to any audio, video, or controller lag your setup may have, for those who need that sort of thing.)
I've been groovin' to the Blocks for about a week now and it's definitely got that same vibe that I got from Lumines. It's a delightful fusion of puzzler and rhythm game that's simple in concept but tickles my mind in new and delightful ways. I feel a little badly for having skipped it the first time around on WiiWare, but playing the Wii version—going for an MSRP of $20Â and available now—is enjoyable enough that I can forget that past discretion. Definitely recommended.
But now Zoo has picked up Empty Clip's game for disc release, and the good people there sent along a copy for review, so I gave it a spin. Ten minutes in, I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with myself for having passed on such a fun little game originally.
Groovin' Blocks is a match-three falling-block puzzler with one key twist, played with either a sideways Remote or the Classic Controller. On either side of the playfield, beats scroll by in time with the currently-playing song—they're usually, but not always, following along in a simple quarter-note fashion—and if you drop your pieces on the beat, you'll be on your way toward earning point bonuses and multipliers. There are also rare special beats called "Superbeats" which give you massive and immediate multiplier bonuses for maximum scoring possibilities. They appear at specific points in each song, so you'll find it rewarding to revisit each level several times until you can feel them coming.
Dropping pieces on the beat is also important for use of powerups; as in, if you don't drop the piece containing the powerup block on the beat, the powerup will vanish as the pieces dim into the depressingly darkened collection of blocks that remind you of your failure. Keep on the beat and they stay bright, and you can use those powerups (with effects like exploding unrelated nearby blocks or giving score bonuses) any time you can get them to match into a confluent mass involving at least one row or column of three.
The techno stylings of Mercer Friendly and Soliton lend a very catchy soundtrack to the proceedings here. In the disc version, there's twice as much music as there was in the original WiiWare version, which fans of that should be pleased to hear. I'm hard-pressed to say there was a song I didn't like, though I felt some were more enjoyable to actually play than others. Between the soundtrack and the simple, clean graphical style, the presentation is quite nice indeed.
The sole complaint I have with the game is one that is actually easily resolvable—if blocks are dropped off-beat, they turn dim as they land, and it becomes a bit less immediately obvious which is which when I'm trying to make matches and clear them. But in the options menu, there's a "color blind" option that gives the differently-colored blocks distinguishable shapes, and this solves that problem very neatly. (Also found in the options menu are settings to calibrate the game to any audio, video, or controller lag your setup may have, for those who need that sort of thing.)
I've been groovin' to the Blocks for about a week now and it's definitely got that same vibe that I got from Lumines. It's a delightful fusion of puzzler and rhythm game that's simple in concept but tickles my mind in new and delightful ways. I feel a little badly for having skipped it the first time around on WiiWare, but playing the Wii version—going for an MSRP of $20Â and available now—is enjoyable enough that I can forget that past discretion. Definitely recommended.