There are dozens of Tetris clones available for mobile devices, but Big Box of Blox is certainly not one of the more conventional ones.
The object of Big Box of Blox is fairly standard - arrange the three-block-high stacks as the fall to match blocks in groups of three or more, vertically or horizontally to eliminate them. The difference to your run-of-the-mill Tetris game though lies in the way Big Box of Blox is packaged, which I would simply describe as "surreal".
The graphics in Big Box of Blox are dark, mysterious and downright bizarre. Over the course of the five different game modes, the styling of the levels varies from Hells Angel, through alien, to futuristic. Couple this with a spooky ambient soundtrack and Big Box of Blox represents one of the most sinister puzzle experiences you'll ever download.
A game of this nature is always going to be addictive and fun to play, and Big Box of Blox proves no different. It avoids being repetitive by presenting different game modes that feature different block attributes. One level contains bomb blocks that blast surrounding blocks away when joined together, another features a slot-machine style combo where an event happens for better or worse depending on the spin of a wheel, and a third sees you try to blocks that spring up like mushrooms as you play. You can adjust the difficulty of the gameplay within Big Box of Blox very precisely through a slider on the main menu.
Big Box of Blox is let down somewhat by the design of the blocks themselves. Because many of the pieces are very dark in color, they are sometimes hard to spot against the black backgrounds of the levels, and I came away from the game with a touch of eye strain.
But if you're looking for something different to the usual Tetris-style games, Big Box of Blox delivers an experience you won't find anywhere else.
