The idea to clear the blocks is by selecting 3 blocks of the same colour to remove them from the board. However, this has to be done in a certain way, you can just choose 3 blocks, and you have to plot your path through the board to make sure that you’re not going to be blocked. If you find yourself with only 2 blocks of the same colour then that is game over and you have to start that board all over again. This can be a real pain if you have found yourself towards the top and are close to completing the board.
The game is really simplistic and quite hard to explain, the easiest way I can think is that you have to clear a board by picking 3 tiles of the same colour. There are 30 levels within the first world and as you would expect from a puzzler such as this, the difficulty does increase over time and the levels are shaken up a bit to provide a bit of difference to the game. The main aim is the same on each but every now and then throughout the world the levels get a shake-up such as instead of going through the level once and moving on, some levels may contain 3 elements to them, so you basically have to do 3 boards in one to get to the next part, and if you failed on the 3rd board then you would be taken back to the first and have to do all 3 again. This isn’t too bad because if you remember the order in which you managed to get to the 3rd board, then you should be able to power your way back through the first 2.
There are certain prizes that you can earn from reaching certain levels, these include items such as skip tokens, which as it says on the tin allows you to skip harder levels that you might be struggling on, and I have to admit that these can be a life saver, especially on more complicated levels, where you have to react quicker to the levels.
I do like how the game is designed, I love the cartoon look of it and how this has been integrated into the boards to help with the designs. There are good uses of colours and things are very placed together and very nicely displayed.
I did find some of the noises within the game quite irritating, so irritating in fact that I had to switch the in game sounds off. Mainly because I would be sat there plotting my route through the board and there would be a screaming type of noise that would occur, and it would be really sudden and to me rather pointless. I’m trying to concentrate on getting through the board and plotting which order I’m going to work through, and I have this screaming sound going off every 30 seconds or so, which can be really off putting. So I took the simple route and shut them off all together.
The music within the game is fine, it’s quite peaceful but also has that beat to it, that ‘describes’ the level you’re on. If you’re in a boss or mid boss level as I call them, then the beat will be a lot faster with a higher tempo to show the importance of it, whereas single levels have much slower paced music to them.
The characters that you play as within the game, don't speak, they just make a weird noise that sounds like rapping as the writing goes across the screen. The writing on the screen is one of those thing that I felt could have been changed in the game. The effort has been put there with the design and everything, but when the writing comes on the screen it just looks like a bog standard Calibri or Arial font and doesn't really look appetising.
Another thing that has annoyed me with the game is that when you're selecting the stones in the game, if you select the wrong colour then you can't go back, you have just ruined the board and will have to start again.
I have to admit that despite the terrible sounds, and from first glance what looks like a rather boring game, I had quite a lot of fun with it. The quick 30 minutes I fancied on it, turned into near 3 hours of trying to get through the levels, and there are a lot of levels spread across the worlds, so the re playability factor for the game is there, as it will take hours and hours to get through each of the worlds.
I have to admit, if you are looking for a game that is going to be a time waster and is value for money, then this would be your answer. It has lots to do, the levels get shaken up so it isn't monotonous and it will give you hours of fun.
Best of all, at the moment the game is free with Games for Gold on Xbox One
Tumblestone gets a 7.5 from me.
Code very kindly provided by developers.
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