Block Factory
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3DS
| Block Factory

Block Factory not only combines Tetris with match-three gameplay, but it lets you make the game yourself.

There are a few pre-packaged modes that come bundled with Block Factory, but the real focus is on creating your own block-based scenarios, playing them, and then sharing them with your friends.

It's a concept that sounds intriguing right up until the moment you realise just how empty and hollow the game truly is - this level-creation and sharing feature would be fine as a nice added bonus, but it's not substantial enough to constitute a main event.

Blocked

There are several steps to making your own Block Factory puzzle, from choosing the set of blocks you want to use to telling the game what kind of scenario you're building, be it based on Tetris, match-three, or other games.

Once you've put together your level, you can play it. You can set levels to be endless or to have a goal, and each level has its own local scoreboard.

There are also four levels already built for you so you can take ideas and mould them into your own levels.

And that's the entire game. You can share your levels via QR codes if you so desire, but you'll be hard pushed to find another soul who has purchased the game, or indeed anyone else who even cares.

Fac off

Block Factory doesn't do anything particularly well at all. The actual gameplay itself is dull, with the stereoscopic 3D visuals that are barely noticeable. Tellingly, the game doesn't even bother with a title screen.

It really should have been a very small part of a larger game, and its release in this form is mystifying.

Even more mystifying is that Nintendo has approved this absolute stinker at a time when it's attempting to bolster its digital offerings. Download this at your peril.

Block Factory

Think DIY Tetris sounds like an intriguing experience? You couldn't be any more wrong - or, at least, that's what Block Factory has taught us
Score
Mike Rose
Mike Rose
An expert in the indie games scene, Mike comes to Pocket Gamer as our handheld gaming correspondent. He is the author of 250 Indie Games You Must Play.