Fire Emblem: Awakening is the game I’m currently addicted to. It’s a Japanese RPG for the 3DS, and it consumes much of my time. The life or death stakes (if a player dies on you they are gone, baby gone for good) combined with the team-bonding aspects make this one a sure-fire winner. An epic story and an epic soundtrack round out the package. Not to mention I have the Majora’s Mask remake ready to go straight after completion, and if it hooked me at 13 it’s probably lost none of its charm. How about you? Have you ever been truly addicted to a game? I hope not, for your sake, but if so, you might know a thing or two about the BoxOff experience. BoxOff is certainly a game. It’s a simple game, but it’s a game that consumes, with little remorse and no concern for its victims. It’s also an immediate classic, it’s free and it’s out right now for iOS.
The premise and actual mechanics of BoxOff are not the easiest to explain with the written word, and I’ve tried to phrase this paragraph right a fair few times. But I expect you won’t settle for ‘you’ll get it when you play it’, so here goes. The action takes place on a grid of squares. Maybe a grid is always made up of squares. Maybe that’s what makes it a grid. Anyway, a grid of squares is what we’re going for. On opening Level 1, you’re presented with a grid of nine squares and six red circles, which the game calls stones. Your tasked with moving these stones on top of each other, forming a square or rectangle on the grid as you do. The stones you’ve joined are then discarded to the side. The objective is to clear the board of stones. Simple, right?
No. Wrong. You’ll breeze through the early ones, but as soon as three colours are introduced, you’re going to be reaching for the lifeline that is the ‘undo’ button on a regular ol’ basis. If it sounds complex, rest assured, it’s not. It’s actually thoroughly engaging. I played it far longer than was needed for a simple review, and I plan on playing the evening away when I’m done with this; it is that good. Part of the greatness lies in how suitable it is for the iPhone format; you flick stones together with a skim of your finger, and if you can’t help but feel like a boss during the final three moves of a game, when victory is assured and the path becomes clear.
There’s four stages too; normal, stacks and area, and a combination of all three. They increase in difficulty (apparently; though I found stacks, where a number of stones are stacked together, more challenging than area, which involves hitting a target number of grid squares by the time you complete the board). If you like puzzles, if you love puzzles, or if you’re simply fed up with the little, straightforward mini-games that plague the iPhone and want a real challenge, get yourself BoxOff. But be prepared to give up a good few hours of your life in exchange.
Check in to the App Store to get Boxing Off for free today!
