Rock A Block is a puzzle/racing game where you race an opponent by matching your racer colour to coloured blocks. Sounds interesting and original? Read on to find just how much.
I like to see original ideas on indie games, this is one of the special things with indie games that you rarely see elsewhere as large game companies do not want to take a risk with a new idea. Rock A Block is as far as I know an original game and the developers seem to have had great fun making it if you visit their homepage.
Rock A Block is essentially a racing game with a puzzle element to mix things up a little. Your racer is a block which can be rotated with a tap of the LB and RB buttons so that the coloured sides; Red, Green, Blue and Yellow touch the track. The track is suspended in the air inside an arena and is a sequence of coloured blocks which your racer must colour match to progress to the next block. It is an extremely simple idea and lets any type of gamer instantly understand the game and get on with the race.
Three game modes are available to play. The Single Player race allows you to choose from the nine tracks which are unlocked as you complete the previous race and they vary in ease and length. The Championship Race allows you to compete in Bronze, Silver and Gold classes over the nine tracks, with points awarded for coming first place. The final mode is a Two player mode to play against a friend.
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Nine accessories are available to use in the modes which improve an area of your racer. For example improvements to your minimum speed and faster or longer turbo boosts. In the single player race you have a choice of five opponents to race against, they have strengths and weaknesses along with suitably funny names, ‘Lance Skidmarks’ for example is a faster racer. New opponents are unlocked as you complete the championship mode.
This is one of those games that anyone can pick up and play, it does however take a little more time to master. You can change between the top and bottom of the track at any time by pressing the LT button. Going to the bottom effectively reverses your block, so if you are a player that is used to sequences you can get confused in the thick of things when rotating your block. For example: changing between Yellow and Red sides would have originally been RB, it would now be LB. Fortune favours the brave and changing position allows you to collect additional coins which can be used for turbo boosting.
Presentation is done very well with nicely designed menus that explain all the accessories and opponents. Graphically the game looks good, the 3D graphics work well and there is no slowdown. There are sometimes some camera issues when another part of the track obstructs your racer, not ideal if there is a different coloured block coming up and it can result in a few seconds delay to blindly rotate your block to progress. Fortunately it does not happen very often but it can be annoying when it does. There is just the one music track provided which is not too bad. Sound effects are done well with differing block jump noises to heighten the tension as you increase in speed as well as crowd cheers to give some atmosphere.
Rock A Block costs 80 :MSPoints: which is great value for money. The nine varied tracks to play on with three levels of difficulty in the championship mode will take a while to master. The two player mode is perhaps the strongest area of the game and is great fun to play. Definitely one to check out!
More information on Rock A Block can be found on the Marketplace.
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