The Block

Intro

"The Block" is a collection of mini-games where the player needs to perform well if they wish to overcome the curse of being creatively blocked on a project they are trying to finish at the last minute. A challenge that will definitely test the player's dexterity, rhythm, and finger muscles. Though the final day appears to be a bit bugged, but I suppose I should start with talking about the narrative.

Story

You play as a nameless developer whose fallen victim to the worst thing a creative person can experience. He has been struck with the horrible curse known as creative block. Which in this game's world appears to be very literal.



At any rate it appears this developer has a meager seven days to complete a project he was given thirty days to complete. So it looks were going to have to really push ourselves to finish this one at the last minute. And I mean push since seven days isn't a lot of time when your making a video game.

Gameplay

The game is comprised of various mini-games whose difficulty varies depending on your personal skillset. The first challenge requires you to navigate tiny mazes as quickly as possible.



A challenge that requires the player to quickly analyze the dungeons layout and move through it. And the more of these you complete the higher your score becomes. And the higher your score the more work you'll complete on your project. Though, I kind of wish the divides were a bit finer than just 10, 15, and 20 percent since it feels like the player is wasting their time after they've reached 15 percent if there isn't a lot of time left to rack up more points.

The second challenge is a rhythm game where you need to hit the z button when a red bar is within the confines of a green pad. And this is definitely one of the mini-games I was best at since I managed to do this enough time to get a 20% boost to the completion percentage to my game.

The third task requires you to input a series of arrow key combos. A challenge that reminds me of "Riviera: The Promised Land" by Sting Entertainment since you need to complete such challenges on a semi-regular basis in order to avoid taking damage from traps when you open chests in that game.

The fourth task is a button masher where you need to spam the z key as quickly as possible. And if I'm being brutally honest I really hate mini-games like this since they seem more like efforts to get people to break their keyboard than an actual mini-game.

The fifth mini-game is another button masher where you need to spam the left and right arrow keys in order to keep a red line within the confines of the green portion of a bar. A challenge that left me feeling cheated since you'll only get 20% for this challenge if you stay within it's confines of the green portion almost the entire length of the mini-game.



The sixth mini-game is a twist upon the one on the second day where your presented with smaller bars that can pop up in multiple locations on the screen.



On the plus side this does make the mini-game a bit more difficult. On the other hand it lacks the smooth rhythm that the second mini-game had.

And the last day is a hodge-podge of all of the mini-games in short bursts which I found really annoying since you might be about to press a button to complete a task only for a new mini-game to pop up. In fact, I found this so annoying I was kind of happy when it was over since I really didn't need to do that well in order to get a score of at least 100% on my game at this point.

Bug

On the final day the mini-game for the second day doesn't appear to work correctly since it will give me negative feedback when I press the z key when the red bar is within the confines of the green pad.



Graphics

The game features original art assets that are simple, but possess a sort of charm if your a fan of basic geometrical shapes. After all, the main thing you'll probably be drawn to is the main character's head which frequently appears as a cube. So much so that I wonder if this guy's head was inspired by the Borg since their geometrical ship designs are the epitome of lacking in creativity in my opinion.

Sound

Sound wise the game is alright in my opinion which is to say I find them rather forgettable, but appropriate for the game itself when I do hear them. Though it is hard to concentrate on the music when your trying to do well on these mini-games in order to achieve your overall goal of overcoming the curse of a creative block.

Conclusion

"The Block" is alright if your a fan of mini-games I suppose, but some of these mini-games aren't that appealing in my eyes. Especially the ones that involves spamming the z key since it just feels like the developer is try to get you to smash the z key so hard and fast that you'll actually break it. Though I suppose if your fan of such mini-games this might be the game for you.