BoxUp HD Review

You’d think that drivers switching from a manual to automatic transmission would find the latter to be a blessed relief after getting used to the more complicated variant, but this is rarely the case.

The lack of gear selection may sound great to non-drivers, but it ends up making you feel less in control and more confused, your left/right arm constantly jumping down to the gear stick automatically, grasping for something that doesn’t exist.

BoxUp HD has nothing to do with driving an automatic, but its interface creates much of the same feeling. As such, I found myself constantly wishing I had more control.

Reaction-based puzzlers combine logic skills and timing, relying on finger dexterity just as much as brain power to find solutions.

In BoxUp HD, the logic revolves around matching shapes up so that they reside in the correct areas of the screen. Bringing two shapes together creates a more complicated shape, as determined by an always-visible linear chart. For instance, two triangles create a square.

Should a lesser shape hit a more complicated one - a triangle hitting a square, for example - then the shape regresses back a step, until its once again a bog-standard triangle.

Control over these shapes is handled via a simple tap-and-drag system, which allows you to catapult them across the screen, relative to how far you drag them. Tapping a shape in motion stops it dead in its tracks.

The reaction part of the game is provided by the fact that the shapes are almost always in motion from the word 'go'. Endless streams of fast-paced triangles and other shapes fly out from the sides alongside special power-ups that can either help or get in the way depending on the level.

Just the act of grabbing the right piece before it flies off-screen is a challenge in itself, with wrong combinations a frequent occurrence. After the first few easy levels, you quickly find yourself doing what all good reaction puzzlers demand: multi-tasking.

Yet, it’s at this point where BoxUp changes from an attractive and interesting game into an exercise in frustration. That’s because it doesn’t allow for multi-touch control - a bewildering omission considering the pace of the shapes and the speed required.

The game does a good job of throwing up new obstacles to mix up the gameplay, from everyone’s favourite magnets and black holes to travelators that force the shapes in one direction.

But rather than force you to think differently about how to approach a puzzle, they only serve to highlight the game’s shortcomings, each one seemingly designed to make it harder to keep a handle on the shapes’ movements.

Work around the lack of multi-touch controls and there’s a long and quite devious puzzler to be had beneath the appealing notepad-styled visuals. But unless this is the first time in the driving seat of a reaction-based puzzler, you’re sure to wish for more control.