Blocks Hurt! is a combination of matching blocks and strategy with a hint of tower defence. The concept is simple, stop the invading army of monsters with blocks and power ups.

The monsters appear from the right of the screen and you must destroy them before they reach the left egde of the screen by tapping on the blocks overhead to release them. The blocks appear attached to a chain which is constantly moving, similar to a conveyor belt. Thankfully, you are able to control the speed of the chain by tilting the device. To keep things interesting there are different monsters, some land based and some that can fly, so you have to keep on eye on them, while at the same time solving mini puzzles as each level is categorised into one of 3 battle modes: ‘Build the Wall’, Collect Blocks and Survive. These are all self explanatory from their titles, so I want go into them, but this really does make for a fun and interesting game.

Before dipping into the action, you need to first get past the fairly extensive tutorial, this might prove a slight barrier for causal gamers who want to jump in and start playing within a matter of seconds. I’m not sure if there is away to avoid this but I do hope people give it a try, as it has the potential to be as popular as Angry Birds. There are a few other niggles holding it back that, one of which is the menu screen, it’s slightly confusing. I understand that using the ‘chain’ as the graphical interface leads to the menu structure used but I think this could be simplified. Also, the icons could be slightly more polished, in fact the entire game could do with a slight graphical makeover to bring it up a notch and make it a superb game.

Be warned Blocks Hurt! is very challenging, it took me a couple of hours to complete the first scenario, however, this is a refreshing change as I think some casual games are becoming too easy. I’m hoping a future update will bring another scenario.

The audio is a bit hit and miss, but have no fear you can modify the options in the audio settings. The voice over is very humorous and the general sfx sounds good, so I leave these on, unfortunately the music can be a little distracting and the audio for the chain does get a bit grating, so I leave these unchecked. None of this effects the game play – it’s only a minor point.

Blocks Hurt! is a must have for fans of tower defence and matching blocks. Overall a fun, original game that is worth every penny.

Blocks Hurt!, 1.0
Developer: Luca Giusti. (9+)
Price: 69p