Gamertell

Title: Block Knights
Price: $2.99
System(s): iPhone, iPod Touch
Release Date: February 18, 2009
Publisher (Developer): BitCaper
ESRB Rating: 4+
Pros: Solid variety of game modes.
Cons: Accelerometer controls limit locations of play.
Overall Score: Two Thumbs Sideways, 70 out of 100, C-, * * out of five.

Add one more puzzle game to Apple’s ever-growing gaming apps palette, only this time we aren’t talking about the quickly, becoming stale style of Bejeweled clones.

No, Block Knights instead beckons back to the classic puzzle game, Tetris, adding the modern flare of the iPhone’s accelerometer and touch recognition to control oddly shaped blocks with the goal of lining them up from one edge of the screen to the other (be it top to bottom or side to side).

For $2.99, Block Knights offers four modes for a variety of play: Quest, Arcadia, Guillotine, and Infinitas. Infinitas is a free-for-all mode free of time limits or objectives where you can play around and get a feel for the control of the game. Quest mode requires you to rid of character blocks called “Mobs” by pinning them in the lines you create. As you advance in levels more and more Mobs are placed on screen and the more thinking is required to your victory. 

Arcadia and Guillotine are both modes dealing with the clock or gauge. Arcadia requires you to create lines in order to fill the decreasing gauge and Guillotine resembles a game of Hot Potato, where if you hold a block too long, time expires and the game is over. Both modes play off your anxiety to keep the game going which actually creates a lot more fun then it does stress.

As someone who enjoys a round or two of Tetris you would think this game would be a perfect fit for me but the reality is that Block Knights misses the mark thanks to its central use of the accelerometer.

When blocks are unleashed onto the screen, they float around until you tilt your device in the direction you want it to go. This works fine if you have your device held flat but, if you are lounging around holding your device up, it tends not to work so well as blocks will immediately drop down.

There’s also an issue for people who play their iPhone games on the go. Block Knights requires some level of accuracy to play it, so playing on a bumpy ride isn’t the most ideal environment.

For what it is, Block Knights is a fun, modern Tetris clone with solid variety that is beaten down by its own gimmick of motion control. 

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