Tower Bloxx: Revolution

There was a time when frustrated architects were forced to live out their construction-oriented fantasies by putting on a yellow hat and mashing Lego blocks together in front of an episode of Grand Designs.

When Tower Bloxx appeared on the scene, however, plastic bricks were swept aside in a shower of primary colours as aspiring draftspeople took to their mobiles, gleefully building entire cities with nothing but well-timed thumbstrokes.

Digital Chocolate has since built a franchise on the foundations of that block-dropping puzzler, the latest instalment of which is Tower Bloxx: Revolution.

Unfortunately, now that the city-planning elements have been excised from the game we’re left with a rather lacklustre package which, despite its futuristic themes, is stuck firmly in the past.

As always, you're presented with a perpetually swinging crane arm dangling a coloured section of skyscaper over a building site.

Hitting '5' will drop the block, at which point another will appear in its place. The aim is to erect a gleaming skyscraper by dropping these individual blocks one on top of another.

Your ultimate goal will differ depending on which of the three game modes you're playing.

Casual mode requires you to construct the tallest tower you can within a restricted budget. Every block you drop costs you dollars, which you must recoup by matching colours for combo bonuses.

Swift Mode challenges you to build the largest number of towers against the clock. Chain together like-coloured blocks with speed and accuracy and you earn bonus seconds, allowing you to continue stacking your way towards a high score.

Finally, Frenzy Mode has you pushing pre-stacked blocks into alignment as the camera creeps up the side of the tower. If you fail to shunt a section into place, you'll lose one of your five lives.

Tower Bloxx: Revolution is a visually noisy affair. The tower is often swaying from side to side, and the crane arm is in constant motion.

A tiny bar on the left of the screen fills when you chain matching blocks, and the jetpack-sporting Galaxians are constantly whizzing in to populate completed sections of the tower.

It seems like all the onscreen clutter has been employed to keep you from realising that, in gameplay terms, very little is actually happening.

It doesn't really matter which mode you're playing - it all comes down to a few well-timed clicks, with very little strategy.

Without the city-planning elements present in previous franchise entries the only entertainment comes from the diminishing returns of the game's twitch-centric core.

After a while, the repetitive nature of the experience begins to take its toll, making you less and less inclined to continue as the seconds tick by.