Balloon Blocks – Puzzle & Trivia – 240 Points – Download

Balloon Blocks is a puzzle game created by Creative Cog Games that, at its core, takes its inspiration from other classic puzzle games such as Tetris and Columns. Shapes comprised of 2-4 colored blocks fall into a bin. By matching up identically colored blocks, they’re cleared from the playfield, with bonuses obtained by clearing larger numbers of blocks at once or clearing one color right after the other. Unlike the rigid block-dropping of previous games, Balloon Blocks puts its own twist on the formula by giving each of the blocks bouncy and free-floating physics.

Falling blocks bounce off of ones already in place and can freely rotate 360 degress in the air until they reach the bottom or hit another block, which after a short moment freeze in place. Taking advantage of the bouncy physics, blocks aren’t cleared through lines but instead “tapping” 3 or more of the same blocks against one another. Aiding the player in addition is an “Unfreeze Meter” that slowly replenishes during gameplay and refills faster by completing combos. When the meter is full and activated, all the frozen blocks fall to the bottom of the playfield, usually setting off large numbers of combos and serving as the main point-maker in Balloon Blocks.

While Balloon Blocks has its own uniqueness, it’s not without a learning curve. It’ll take most players a couple games to get used to how the blocks bounce off one another, and the free rotation in-air means new players will tend to over-correct with their block orientations. Balloon Blocks features standard puzzle game modes such as normal mode (play until you lose), clear mode (clear a set of pre-arranged blocks from the playfield), and survival (stay alive for a set period of time). The game’s graphics are simple and pastel, but clearly show all the elements during gameplay. The game’s background music is alright and unobtrusive but being unable to custom select tracks for each stage makes them a bit stale over repeated plays.

Overall, Balloon Blocks offers a fresh spin in the falling-blocks puzzle genre, but it’s gelatin-like physics may not be to every puzzle fan’s liking. Definitely give the trial a go before bouncing into the thick of things.

Balloon Blocks offers a fresh spin in the falling-blocks puzzle genre, but it's gelatin-like physics may not be to every puzzle fan’s liking.