Vimm's Lair: Genesis Reviews - Blockout

Genesis
Blockout

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
4.50
4.25
3.75
4.00
Votes: 4
Reviews: 1


Rate this game

Review this game

 

Reviewer: Tricob Date: Jan 24, 2008
For those who don't know, Block Out is a 3D version of Tetris, where you try to fill in lines of the pit, which makes the lines disappear, and gives you points. It was most popular in the PC version, but an arcade version was also produced.

The catch in Block Out is - You have to fill in a solid floor of blocks, rather than just a line of blocks in a row. The game's extra features are great - Three groups of blocks are available, the width, length, and depth of the 3D pit is customizable, and the starting level is selectable, too.

Graphics: 6
Some of the graphics are more impressive than the PC version, but nothing here blows you away. If anything, the graphics do their job. Things look the way they're supposed to. The graphics will probably be too simplistic for many Genesis fans. Fans of the PC version of Block Out will be more than pleased, however.

Sound: 5
What sound is here is okay, but in truth it needs more. A little more music also would've helped; there's no in-game music at all. It probably ended up like this because the game was done by the same folks who did the PC version, long before PC's better sound capabilities were available.

Gameplay: 3
The basic gameplay of Block Out is good; The classic Tetris taken to a 3D level, and that's what made me so fond of the PC version.

But the gameplay is really hurt by its unresponsive controls; the buttons take far too long to respond. There were several times in two minutes where I'd press the Start button, and the game didn't respond to it. The other gamepad keys don't respond much better. This is a big problem when the pieces start moving downward faster, and you have less time to put pieces in places they need to be. For a console as fast as the Genesis is, you'd expect the game to be much more responsive.

Overall: 4
I would've found this game far more enjoyable if the controls were a little more responsive. They're not, and this pretty much kills the game.

I was excited to see that California Dreams - who did the PC version of Block Out - had also done a Genesis version as well. After playing it though, I'm not as excited anymore. What the heck happened here, anyway? Maybe California Dreams simply doesn't have good Genesis programmers. I'd have to play more Genesis creations by them before I can be sure.

If you want to play Block Out, get the PC version.