| 03 September 2010
Piyo Blocks 2 is an iPhone puzzle game similar to Bejeweled. It actually has the exact same game structure as one of my favorite Nintendo DS games, Zookeeper, and has quickly climbed the ranks to become one of my favorite iPhone games as well.
The overall game structure is familiar territory - match three alike tiles either vertically or horizontally. What sets this game (and Zookeeper) apart is that as tiles are being matched and disappearing, you can quickly match other titles simultaneously, and string together combos. Once you get a feel for the game's rhythm, you can easily string together monster 20+ combos for some insanely huge pointage.
Piyo Blocks 2 has a wide variety of gameplay modes: "Piyo" mode has you match an increasingly-large number of blocks for each color before advancing to the next level, "Hyaku" mode has you match 99 blocks of each color and advances your level after each one hits 99, "Time Attack" gives you four minutes to get as many points as you can, and "Three Seconds" requires you to match three blocks every (you guessed it) three seconds. The game also supports LAN or Bluetooth 2-player modes but I didn't get a chance to try those out.
Lastly, the game is part of the OpenFeint system, sporting leaderboards, online challenges and achievements. It also has an unlockable Turbo mode easter egg (click on nine birds at the menu screen) which throws a whole new spin on everything once you've mastered the pace of the game. There's an HD version on the iPad that is just monstrous, and I think it simply has too many blocks on the screen for its own good (try the demo before buying that one).
Overall, there isn't a whole lot to separate this game from my beloved Zookeeper, but I think that paying $3 to get it on my iPhone is well worth it.
Note: according to the game's developer they've pulled down the game from the App Store in anticipation of an update that should come in the next couple of days, which will include some new features.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
