Alessandro Grussu


Block Z
By Raymond Russell
Spectrum 48K/128K/+2/+3

 
Published in Al's Spectrum Annual 2021

Block Z

Block Z is a puzzle made up with 50 screens. Each one of them hosts a pattern consisting of several types of blocks. There are: fixed blocks, indicated by a dot; movable blocks, bearing an arrow that indicates the direction in which they move when the player selects them and presses the Fire key; and finally, blocks which cannot be operated in any way, which purpose is to define the playing area.

Some blocks of the second type follow a straight line until they hit an obstacle; others, marked by an "angled" (clockwise or anticlockwise) arrow, make a 90° turn when they hit a first obstacle, then stop at the second. If one of these blocks touches another or two horizontally or vertically, they all vanish. The aim of the game is therefore to make all the blocks of the first two types disappear within a time limit.

The aim is to make all the blocks of the first two types disappear. When the blocks are even in number, they must be put together in pairs, while if they are odd, at least three of them must disappear at once. This indication is valuable, since the time to solve the patterns is limited. Five times during the game, you can start the pattern all over again; if you cannot solve the scheme, the game ends. You can restart from the last screen you reached, but your score will drop down to zero.

Block Z is a basic but ingenious puzzle. The core idea is extremely simple and the realization is straightforward: just yellow blocks, moving one character at a time. Sound is limited to a few effects on the 48K, while some AY tunes can be heard on the 128K. A password system to resume the game from any of the levels, as well as a diversification of difficulty levels based on the speed of time would have been welcome, but as it is, Block Z is a noteworthy title anyway.

Alessandro Grussu

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