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Friday, September 14, 2018

Push Blox by Andrew Duff $1.99

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This game is a winner.
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Andrew Duff contacted me 2 months ago about his new game Push Blox.  It's a 'stick 'em' puzzle. The object is to push all the red squares into one clump. The delay in reviewing this game is based on the fact that it took so long to get through some of the levels.
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Your Man, the outlined black square, does all the pushing.
Features:
1. Black squares are solid walls.
2. Gray squares can be eaten.
3. Blue squares must also be clumped together.  When that objective is complete, all the blue disappears.
4. Gravity.  All red and blue pieces will fall to the bottom unless supported by black or gray cells. I believe that no other 'stick 'em' game has gravity as a feature. (See list below.)
5. Important concept: look at the second image.  See the lone red square on top? If Your Man eats the gray cell under it and then moves left/right, it will fall to the bottom, which is not good. The Move: slide left then right immediately and the red will shift to the right.
6. Red laser beams: don't let Your Man get killed.
7. Conveyor belts.
8. Keys must be landed on to open locks. More significantly, if there are 2 keys, then 2 separate pieces must stay on both of them in order to open the locks.
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The graphics of Push Blox are fine. There's original music, but Loyal Blog Followers know that I turn off all sound to preserve battery life. I'm guessing the music is good.

The puzzles themselves are terrific.  There are 34 levels altogether. However, many levels have multiple 'aha' moments. I've done 29 levels, but feel like I've done at least 50 levels.

Level 3-5, also called Valhalla, took me forever to solve. I easily made 50 attempts before figuring it out.

Level 3-6, Rescue, wasn't as hard as Valhalla, but is elegantly designed.

What could be better:
1. The undo button is only good for a few moves and not useful if Your Man dies by laser.
2.  I stopped at levels 4-4 and 4-5 in part because the grids are so busy with so many elements.
These are minor complaints.

Andrew, great job! I really enjoyed your game but must move on. Everybody else: I spent more than a month on this game.  Multiple times, while driving my car, I would think of a new strategy for solving whatever level I was stuck on. The price is more than fair. Don't cheat yourself by avoiding the payment.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/push-blox/id1405360920?mt=8
https://lonelydeckchair.itch.io/push-blox
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=love.to.androidDemo
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=love.to.androidDemo&hl=en_GB

The Lite version: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/push-blox-lite/id1416217199?mt=8

Other Very Good Puzzles that have a sticky element (not quite the same though):

Denki Blocks I believe this was the original puzzle app that introduced this concept.
Tile'M All This version is crazy hard.
Blockoban - a must have
Move on Green
Blocky XMAS   from the prolific Bart Bonte

3 comments:

  1. Hi Tom, thank you so much for the positive review, and I'm really pleased you enjoyed the game!

    Everyone else: The puzzles do get more challenging as the game progresses - if you get really stuck on a level, I would do as Tom did. Leave it for a bit, then (e.g. when you are driving your car!) the solution will present itself. If you really need help I am happy to provide hints, just send me an email at: andyiduff@gmail.com

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  2. Well done Andrew!!! Nice bit of work...! (-: I haven't gotten that far into it yet, but I like what I see...

    (-:

    Best wishes,

    Robert.

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  3. Hi Robert,

    Great, thanks a lot for the feedback! Please do let me know how you get on!

    Cheers,
    Andy

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