As if last night’s huge list of new iOS releases wasn’t enough, there’s a late-comer to the party that’s been generating quite a buzz in our forums since it showed up in New Zealand earlier today. It’s Block Legend ($1.99) from Dot Warrior Games, and to quote a member of our forums, “…imagine crossing that 10000000 game with Slayin. Only turn it up to 11." Ok, maybe that’s not totally accurate, but it sort of is.
Block Legend sees your character traversing across levels automatically, and when you run into an enemy you battle it out via a matching game. Not really a traditional matching game though, as you won’t be sliding or making matches on your own. You’ll simply tap any group of two or more of the same blocks as they are on the board, thus removing them and causing more blocks to fall down from the top. But, just because you don’t slide the pieces yourself doesn’t mean there isn’t some strategy to it. You’ll have to think ahead about where you’re making your match on the board and how blocks will fall down to fill in the gaps, in the hopes of making even bigger and better matches as you go.
The types of blocks you match determine what action you perform, and this is indeed similar to 10000000. All the basic sort of actions are here, like melee attacking, magic attacks, creating shields, restoring health, unlocking treasure chests and collecting coins. Enemy encounters are random, and you’ll have a clear view of your opponent’s stats and when they’ll be attacking, so you can strategize accordingly. There’s even a boss fight once your character finally makes it to the end of each level. Also, while your traveling but not engaged in combat, your melee attack icons on the board change to EXP icons, so you can still make matches and earn some experience to level up your character.
The way the character progression works, as well as the visuals, is what reminds me the most of Slayin. Your entire adventure is about getting through as many levels as possible in one run. During that run you’ll earn experience, level up, and upgrade your various stats. You can also run across merchants which sell various items and equipment, bought with coins earned through matching. Once your run inevitably ends though, your next run has your character starting over from Level 1. Items and equipment can be used in subsequent runs, however. In regards to the visuals, they’re colorful, pixely and adorable, and there’s a heavy dose of humor in the game, most notably enemy names and descriptions. You can get a good sense of Dot Warrior’s humor in the following trailer, which features unnecessary dubstep galore.
There’s a normal release trailer too, but without unnecessary dubstep, what’s the point? I’ve only been playing Block Legend for a couple of hours, but already it’s got me pretty excited. It’s fun, and surprisingly challenging. There are a ton of playable characters to unlock too, as well as a ton of different environments to play through. Every time you beat a level you’ll earn a Starblock, which is what you’ll use to unlock those heroes or unlock which environment you can start on. The Starblocks are also what you’ll use to be able to take previously obtained items into subsequent runs. It sounds exactly like the sort of thing that would be available as IAP, but Block Legend has no IAP. You’ll have to earn them by playing and playing alone.
If anything I’ve mentioned sounds even vaguely interesting to you, I’d say jump all over Block Legend. I’ve only spent a short time with it, but it’s already what I’ve decided I’ll be doing the rest of the night. Everyone in our forums seems to be loving it too, so if you have a couple of bucks left over after last night’s new releases, I wholeheartedly suggest checking out Block Legend.
Update: Just as a heads up, people are reporting problems on some iPad devices where it cuts off the edges of the game. Sounds like something that’ll get fixed up quickly, but be aware of it in case you want to hold off until a patch is out.
