iPhone App Review: Blokus

April 26, 2010 - By Tom Edwards

Growing up, I’ve always loved board games. Problem was that I was an only child, and my parents hated board games, so I was left with the less-than-enjoyable task of playing board games “against myself”, meaning I’d play all the turns using several different game pieces. As you can imagine, this generally sucked.

Fast forward several (OK, lots) of years later, and now it seems like every board game is out for the iPhone. That includes one of our recent favorites, Blokus.

Blokus, a Mensa Select recipient, is one of those “minute to learn/lifetime to master” games that you can generally get most people to play because the rules simple: try to place all of your pieces on the board. The twist is that your pieces must touch at a point (no flat sides can touch), and that the pieces are all shaped differently, using one to five squares to form a piece. The pieces are reminiscent of Tetris, so I guess you could say it’s like Tetris’ board game cousin, twice-removed.

The Blokus iPhone app stays true to the game. Visually appealing with bright colors, the board and layout call you in. There are a surprising amount of game options with the Blokus app, which is a plus. Along with traditional four-player play, there is also the option to play traditional two-player style (each player controlling two colors), traditional team play (four players paired in two teams going for a combined score), and Blokus Duo (also called Travel Blokus), which is a modified version of the traditional game for two players (whose physical version is sold separately from the physical traditional game). Additionally, a timer can be set to keep the pace moving quickly. This can be set from 10-60 seconds or turned off.

Wisely, Gameloft (the makers of the Blokus app and no strangers to mobile gaming) tried to address replay value by adding a “tournament” feature. With this, you have to complete progressively harder tasks playing all versions of the game in order to complete the levels. The “reward” for completing the tasks are profile icons, but in reality it’s the percent complete on the main page that inspires you to keep going. (“What? Only 16%? I’ve got work to do!”)

The game isn’t perfect by any means though. Most obvious is the lack of a “save” feature. While a game of Blokus can move pretty quickly (it’s no Monopoly), there are times when you have to wrap it up and go onto something else. Nothing like that here. Backing out of the game gives you a warning that your game data will be lost. Press the “home” button to get out of the program and your game is gone with no warning. The controls are a little too unnecessarily complex as well. The Blokus app takes full advantage of the touchscreen requiring finger drags to rotate and flip the pieces, but three buttons (clockwise, counterclockwise, and flip) would have worked just as well, and wouldn’t have made me feel like I was navigating a submarine. A common complaint on the iTunes reviews for the game has been a lack of a multiplayer “pass around” option (multiplayer is available via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G), but really – if you and your friends are huddling around an iPhone to play Blokus, just go out and buy the real game, which is really a lot of fun.

FTW: Fun game, lots of options, pretty colors

WTF: No save option, wonky controls, background music from German public access show

FINAL VERDICT: All things equal, I’d say it’s a must-have. But at $4.99, it’s a little pricey for a game app. With most popular game apps no more than 99 cents and games like Bejeweled 2, Monopoly, and Plants vs. Zombies going for $2.99, Gameloft might be aiming a little too high. $2.99 would be my limit for Blokus, so I’d say hold off for now.

Blokus for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, as well as other Gameloft offerings are available in the Apple iTunes Store.