Culture

Platforms: PC, OS X, (2.5/5

Computers, even laptops, are bulky and cumbersome. You need to wrestle with the lid, then patiently wait as the internal programming of ‘the hive from 2005’ trips over itself, straining to open its own operating system. That’s the problem with Blocks That Matter. After that rigmarole I feel like I need something hearty. You would never sit down at a dinner table to have a lonely aniseed wheel. And aniseed wheels are ludicrously delicious.
If Blocks That Matter were an iOS game then it would be a fantastic one. There is no reason why the tech would be a hurdle. You play as a tiny cuboid robot who can destroy a select few cuboid cubes in each level by jumping underneath them Mario-style, or by drilling through them from the side. Different blocks, as one might expect, have different properties. Sand needs to be supported from below by another block, as does obsidian (though the solid black blocks are impermeable to your drill), while wood and stone are quite happy to float in mid-air. After your premeditated destruction has concluded, it’s time to build your own 2d block combinations. Difficulty emerges from the restriction of only being able to build in groups of four blocks.
And there are loads of little levels based on reaching the end of maze with those tools. Some are really hard, some are really easy, and any time you find the solution to a difficult puzzle, it is satisfying. But it’s too simple to occupy my whole attention. If I’ve opened my computer, I’ve got Youtube sitting right there. I’ve got Facebook. What I want is to open the game in a handful of seconds – from my pocket – when the subtly correct mood strikes me, have one or two goes at one or two levels, and then shove my iPod Touch back down into the sea of receipts and brutal house keys that are responsible for its degenerated touch-screen.