1010!: Review

Review

Gameplay (80%)

1010! is a puzzle based around the classic ‘Tetris’, but instead of having tetrominos falling down from the upper part of the screen, here you have 3 figures to choose from in the bottom of the screen, that you must select and place in the grid. You do so by just touching the one you want, and dragging your finger across the screen and place it in the part of the grid of your preference. When a line is filled, it will disappear, just like in Tetris.   There are two main differences with Tetris. One is that figures aren’t just made of 4 squares. There are blocks made up of 9 squares, or just a single square you can select to place in the grid. The other difference, is that you can not rotate the figures here, you must place them the way they are. The Game is Over when you don’t have space for the next figure, so keep making lines. There are ‘line’ figure made up of 5 blocks, and a very hard one to place once you’ve been playing for some turns, the ‘L’ shape made up of 3 horizontal blocks and 3 vertical. It gets hard to continue placing the figures in about 20 turns, but it’s a pretty addictive puzzle and you’re gonna be trying one more time quite a few times in order to get a new record.

Graphics (67%)

The game looks quite simple. It’s just a white backgrounds, a gray grid, and the figures tha come in many colors. That’s about it. The squares have rounded corners for a more appealing look, but overall 1010! is pretty minimalistic, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing.   There are many similar puzzle games with the same visual style, and it really doesn’t need cartoony characters or pictures of real landscapes to get the job done, as some modern games do so… The animation is smooth and simple, and there are a few sound effects when touching, moving, placing and making lines with the figures. Overall, it’s not something eye catchy, but it is the graphic interface a game like this needs.

Production Quality (80%)

Among the free puzzles that you can find in the App Store or Google Play, 1010! may not stand out too much because of it’s visual design, but the addictive gameplay and simple pick-up-and-play approach is perfect for Mobile entertainment.   Overall, the change in the Tetris “make line formula” applied here, works really well, and should keep you hooked for at least a few minutes before you decide to try out another Match-3 puzzle with cute animations or in 3D or something…

Value for your Money (90%)

1010! is completely free to download. You’ll see an Ad-Video every time you lose, but nothing that you wouldn’t tolerate… Unless you lose the play really quick.

Launch Video

Summary

1010! is certainly not eye catchy, but its minimalistic approach and simple gameplay is certainly entertaining for users just looking at a free puzzle for a few quick plays. Pros

• Free to Play
• Addictive Gameplay

Cons

• Extremely Simple visual design
• No Music

App Guru Rating 75%