…otherwise known as ‘Tower Bloxx On Par’
Ever since moving into my own place, I’ve been critically eyeballing every wall crack and leaky outhouse with the phrase “Bloody cowboys” repeatedly running through my head in my grandfather’s ancient and slightly damning voice. For lazy builders no job is small enough, no sofa too uncomfortable and no gas leak deadly enough to force them into making any structure sound. However, Tower Bloxx Deluxe proves that a good deal of lethargic carelessness in the profession can actually be fairly entertaining.
The small hamlet of Sunvale is in dire need of renovation with nothing to do, a scarce population and less tourist attractions than Leperville. In a last bid attempt to make a mark on the globe, Sunvale’s mayor and Mr. Monopoly lookalike decides to hire you (the only normal looking person in the room thanks to the Xbox Avatar creation) to construct masses of towers in the cities’ various districts with nothing but a bunch of dumbed-down Lego bricks and a massive crane.
Building monolithic structures couldn’t be simpler than batting A at the right time. Once a block is layered, another one is left dangling on the end of your crane. As the crane sways, it’s up to you to time when the next block should land, preferably on top of the previous. The better the stacking, the larger the amount of civilians move into the building Mary Poppins style. The less patient and accurate you are, and you’ll be left with a building less stable than Kerry Katona after too many syringes to the head. A few people will still move in, but only those desperate to have a roof over their head that could topple at any moment, and the sea sick certainly won’t enjoy their time there.
The simple set-up doesn’t encourage anyone to really get stuck in.
Obviously revitalising any city is going to require some planning and this is where a tactical element comes in. One can’t build an army of monolithic buildings towering up to space in order to score big in the population department, plus the sun would feel pretty unwelcome in such circumstances. Bigger buildings can only be placed next to at least one of each building that precedes it in height. The format breaks up the glorified timing contests quite nicely and adds at least some spice to a pie that’s actually lacking in sugar. In order to maximise the cities’ population to its fullest, however, players will find themselves having to demolish buildings to make room for more prosperous renovations. It takes a fair amount of time for this realisation to hit you (unless a snobby reviewer ruins the surprise for you) and when it does, the fact that you need to get rid of all your hard work can prove to be frustrating.
The linear simplicity that proves to be the meat of Tower Bloxx Deluxe proves to be both its strength and eventual downfall. Laying blocks perfectly and reeling in more homeless proves to be more satisfying than first thought, yet the simple set-up doesn’t encourage anyone to really get stuck in. It constantly scratches the surface of an itch long since vanished and never truly delves deeper into some new ideas that could’ve been implemented.
Those who do get sick of building a new haven for a dwindling population can take solace in the other two much shorter modes. Time attack swaps population into precious seconds, forcing you to build the tallest tower possible under a time limit. Quick Play gets rid of all the pressure of time altogether and challenges you to build the tallest tower you can, possibly in a mission to reach God and tell him to snap out of his daydreaming and get my boiler working again. Although they revolve around the same premise, it’s nice to simply take a bite size chunk of the action without actually having to think too much.
At crunch time, Tower Bloxx Deluxe manages to hit complete perfection in the fields of average. It’s definitely fun, but in no way addictive. The fact that in order to progress you must wipe out sections of districts for efficiency means that the game is constantly stuck in a ‘One step forward, one step back’ rotation, and the rewards are so slim that it feels like it’s sometimes questioning its own enthusiasm. If your attention span dwindles like that of a goldfish or find yourself waiting for taxis often, it’s worth a download for a quick slice of casual action from time to time. Those who expect a little bit more from their money however will find Tower Bloxx Deluxe simply too shallow to reach any impressive heights.
The Bad: Revels in repetitiveness, questionable value for money for shallow gameplay, backtracking over tactical elements forces much hard work to be undone
