Originally posted July 25th 2015 on the Seafoam Gaming forums

Title: Blocky Bot

System: Wii U (eShop)

Price: $2.99

Release date: 5/21/2015

The main game/story

In this simple game, you ascend a never-ending set of platforms, as you try and get to the top as quick as you can, without getting caught by the black mist below, while collecting coins along the way, similar to many early arcade games in that the focus is on high scores instead of anything else.

Graphics

This game uses a similar art style to Paper Monsters Recut, and most of the new characters look as if they could come from that game! However, you can change the appearance of the background using themes you unlock from getting better at the game or by using secret codes, adding more replay value and also giving players incentive to go back and try and see which theme fits them best!

Music and Sound:

The music is very lively and actually changes depending on the theme you select, which is a very nice touch. Sound effects are taken from PMR as well, and they work just fine in this game regardless of theme.

Gameplay

Being based off of old arcade games, it’s a pretty simple game to control, where you use the left analog stick to move left or right, and press the A button to jump. The main goal of the game is to simply as high as you can possibly go, collecting coins from treasure boxes you encounter along the way while also avoiding enemies. You can choose to go for a high score and ignore everything, or risk precious time by stopping to open a treasure chest, leading to a risk and reward style of gameplay. Even better, the platforms are randomized with every replay, meaning it always changes, forcing you to rethink your strategy as you climb up.

Despite being an incredibly simple game, this title does feature some neat unlockables, mostly new characters and themes to try out, which adds a bit more to the game, thereby preventing from being yet another “play for five minutes and never play again” title, as this game gives you a reason to get higher scores and more coins.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Blocky Bot is a simple yet fun game, capturing the charm of early Arcade titles very well, while adding fun unlockables to encourage players to stick around! Despite the addition of unlockables, however this is an arcade experience through and through, meaning the main focus is still on beating your old high score, so for those hoping it would add hours of unique content to keep you busy, then you’re out of luck this time. Still, for those who do give it a chance, you’ll definitely find there’s a lot of fun to be had in this cute title.

I give Blocky Bot an 8 out of 10