Review

Gameplay 84%

Block Puzzle Jewel is a Tetris inspired game where you drop figures made up of 1 to 9 squares, inside a 10×10 grid, and you make vertical or horizontal lines to make them disappear, until there’s no more room left to drop another one.   When you start playing, in the bottom of the screen you’ll have 3 figures that you must place on the grid. Just touch one with your finger and drag it to where you want it to be. Once you place all 3, another 3 figures will appear, and you keep going until there’s no room to place one of them. Then you get your final score and have to start over. The point system here works boosting your score the more lines you make at the same time. You get 10 points for 1 line, 30 for 2, 60 for 3, 100 for 4 and 200 for 5. Also, each time you place a figure on the grid, you get points depending on its number of squares. So if you place a single square, you get 1 point added to your score, and if you place the 3×3 square, you get 9 points.

Graphics 70%

Block Puzzle Jewel features simple 2D graphics, but with good use of color grading and many shades of red, green, blue and yellow for the square figures. You won’t see anything complex or memorable at all, but given the casual gameplay, the visuals work just fine here.   The grid is a simple grayish background with some plants and flowers drawn in the edge of the screen. It never changes, but it doesn’t actually become dull to look at. The few special effects you see are the squares disappearing in sparkles when you make lines, and a fading number that appears showing you how many points you got.

Production Quality 72%

Block Puzzle Jewel doesn’t really offer anything more than its unique twist to the Tetris formula, which by itself is very addictive and enough to have you playing for quite a while trying to beat your records.   There isn’t any music, just ambient sounds that make it seem like you’re in a forest, but the few sound effects you hear are appropiate for the game. and there isn’t even a start screen, you just jump right into the gameplay; but at least there’s a global ranking so you can check how you compare to other players world wide. The lack of achievements, unlockables or anything “extra” isn’t really going to stop you from playing one more time, since the addictive original puzzle gameplay and relaxing atmosphere of this title should keep fans of the genre pretty busy.

Value for your Money 98%

Block Puzzle Jewel is free on Google Play and the Apple App Store. You will see banner advertising at the bottom of the screen below the playable area, it’s hardly noticeable and most of the time you won’t even notice is there.

Launch Video

Summary

Block Puzzle Jewel takes the core “making lines” gameplay of a popular classic, but renovates it in a way that makes it addictive and quite enjoyable to play for casuals and old Tetris fans alike. The presentation is simple, and it could’ve have music and extra content, but as it is now, it’s sure to have you trying to break your records for at least an hour or two. Pros

• Very simple addictive gameplay
• Colorful graphics and nice sparkling effects

Cons

• Music would’ve been nice
• No achievements or extra content

Game Help Guru Rating 80%