Intro

Blockade is a take off the casual line drawing games which, from the original Flight Control, has evolved to create a unique genre on the App Store. But with so many duplicates and copies on the App Store it is hard to stand out, especially in a genre full to the brim of the same concept.

Gameplay 4/10 (for lack of originality)

The concept and gameplay of Blockade is the same as other line-drawing games such as Flight Control and Harbor Master, but space themed. Your job is to control space ships that beam in from space to certain checkpoints. The challenge is therefore to prevent ships from crashing and gaining a high score by ferrying ships to their correct destinations.

However, rather than having one or two generic levels, Blockade’s gameplay is more story based with 8 levels. Each level has its own unique rules that add an obstruction to the gameplay, but don’t stray from the line-drawing setup. For example, it might be that some bases that you are heading to can lose power at any time meaning you cannot direct ships there. Even though this adds a twist on levels, it isn’t that varied and you still remain with the same gameplay in the end.

There are some unique in-game elements which mix up the gameplay a bit

The difficulty is good at first, but seems to get a little frustrating as you progress. On the third level you have to direct ships to go to one of three bases to collect cargo and then guide them to the escape portal. You start off with 5 large ships (that take ages to add cargo) meaning you are already at a disadvantage, with more ships coming in all the time, and police patrols intercepting your ships and removing cargo, it seems more frustrating than fun with 3 or more ships in limbo all the time. Having not yet unlocked all levels, I dread to think what frustrating challenges lay ahead.

Overall, the gameplay is challenging yet fun to play at first, but becomes less entertaining as you progress as the challenges become unfairly difficult. Furthermore, the game can become a bit repetitive because of the lack of gameplay style.

Graphics 8/10

The graphics are nothing to shout about, and consist of simple 2D images for the ships and portals. I do, however, like the 3D-ish background of some sort of planet or moon which looks great, but doesn’t distract from the foreground.

However, there is definitely nothing to complain about in this section as the game ran smoothly on my 3G with no frame rate issues.

Controls 8/10

As with all Line-Drawing games, you drag the path from a ship to tell it where to go. This works well on Blockade and line drawing is smooth and simple. However, I found the portals or bases sometimes unresponsive and don’t snap automatically when your finger goes near it. Furthermore, some portals are angled, meaning you have to drag the line to on side of the portal. This can become frustrating in a high intensity level where you just want to quickly direct a ship to the portal rather than having to think with direction to angle the line at. Overall, the controls were smooth but could do with a bit of tweaking to perfect them.

I love the 3D backgrounds

Sounds 7/10

The music is not to my liking, but fits the game reasonably well. Thankfully, you have the option to turn the sound off to enable personal listening, but no in-game music controller.

The sound effects are lacking but remain effective. The sound is good enough but could be better.

Menus 7/10

The menus are not very user friendly, and with the lack of an actual main menu it was sometimes confusing. The menus however look good, especially the background, and the options are clear and easy to select. A little rethink in the structure of the menus is in order to get full marks, but it is decent enough.

Longevity 6/10

8 levels isn’t exactly a lot, but rates well compared to other line-drawing games. Blockade definitely includes a good load of content and the different levels keep the game varied and the player on their toes. However, I feel more of an effort could have been made to vary the gameplay between levels.

Blockade has Agon integration which includes leaderboards and achievements for each level. Nonetheless, after you have exhausted the basic gameplay element there isn’t anything else to Blockade and won’t last a considerable time on your device.

Cost 9/10

Blockade’s introductory price of $0.99/£0.59 is a pretty good deal with all levels included, but $1.99/£1.19 is the highest I could recommend this game for.

Conclusion 49/70 – 3/5

Blockade is a great game with some interesting concepts, but brings nothing to the App Store that we haven’t already seen. The focus of the game is the same as others in the genre and its unoriginality shows through. Definitely check out some other line-drawing games before buying.

Blockade on the App Store.