Blockwick 2

Developer: Kieffer Bros.
Steam Release: June 2015
Usual Price: £8.99
Hours Played: 3.9
Similar To: The Fish Fillets 2 / Grandpa's Table / MacGuffin's Curse / Parcel  
Rating: 3/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
From the makers who gave us the fine Aqueduct on iOS, springs forth another decent slide puzzler that makes the transition through Steam onto PC. Blockwick 2 joins the roster of other minimalist puzzlers such as Hexcells, Hook, Lyne, Mini Metro and Unium to make the case that such games can compete with other indie titles and have a right to be played on the big screen. Blockwick 2 first comes across as an extremely basic and stripped down slide puzzler with bells and whistles numbering a firm zero. Gameplay amounts to dragging and dropping coloured blocks around a grid in an effort to connect them with blocks of the same colour. Making sure all such blocks are adjacent to each other ends a level - and that's it.

BALANCE & PACE
Of course, what puts Blockwick 2 firmly on the map of minimalist puzzlers is the way it gradually ushers in variety and twists in gameplay mechanics. Soon enough, you'll see some unmovable blocks firmly nailed down; blocks that are no longer cuboid but take on other forms; some that will need a connection to be activated while some that will stick to others. The grids will also naturally become larger and more complex. The game comes with two modes: basic and normal with each composed of nine chapters that accommodate 16 levels in each. That's 512 levels! You'll need to find a hidden pearl to unlock the next but early levels do a great job in introducing the mechanics and it unfolds at the right pace.   
 

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
Blockwick 2's strength lies in its plain but distinctive design. It's undeniably an iOS centred interface but each chapter has its own colour scheme so you know instinctively what chapter you're playing. (Blue is Ch1, Red is Ch2 Orange is Ch3 and so on and so forth.) You'll also want to zip around between chapters to complete unfinished levels and to seek out pearls and this is easily done with the usual swipe mechanic associated with tablets and iOS. The colours have a pale wash to them and gently illuminate when connected while the ambient music is pleasantly melodic and contributes greatly to the game's relaxing atmosphere. With no time pressure, although it can definitely get frustrating, it is designed to be stress-free.   
 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
In Blockwick 2 you can play the main game or basic mode. Basic mode may suggest it's for beginners but I personally found it to be pitched at the right pace and really liked how levels were comfortably achievable in the first two chapters but not overly easy. Regardless of which mode you play, you'll get nine chapters with 16 levels in each. For each level you can either go for plain and simple completion; completion with the collection of a pearl hidden underneath a random block; or you could go for the finesse which is to complete the puzzle while covering three mysterious symbols. Pearl completion is highlighted with a dot at the level-select screen while covering all three symbols gives the level number a nice glow. 

CONCLUSION

For any fan of the slide puzzling genre, Blockwick 2 is a resounding and absolute no-brainer. There have been many, Fish Fillets 2 and MacGuffin's Curse to name but two, that have elaborated on or attempted to jazz up the formula, but Blockwick 2 really shows that sticking to the simple and traditional, tried and tested old-school ways works best. Like with most games of this sort, you'll gradually take longer and longer to complete levels and you'll no doubt hit a wall at some point but the game is designed in such a way that you won't lose heart and abandon it altogether but come back another day determined to crack it.