Great but one issue
Mon Dec 19 2022 BrethraeusLook I highly enjoy this game. As a disabled combat veteran it helps me to focus on something other than the pain and the PTSD from combat. I even paid to remove the ads it was so good. However, recently they added this one feature that has started to make me not want to come back as often, and I’m assuming it’s a bandwagon thing but it’s one of those “let me show you a percentage of people who only made it passed this puzzle cause they are better than you are” sort of thing at the beginning of each puzzle, even when you have to restart the puzzle. This function…. And this function alone…. drives my anger scale up and over the boiling point beyond reason and I hate being compared to others. Especially when it comes to my intelligence. So as a paid customer and a long time fan of the game, I’m not asking you get rid of the feature, I’m sure there is some Masochist out there who enjoys the challenge but could you add in a setting under the cog wheel for the rest of us who don’t want to see that garbage? Even if it’s just for paid customers like myself? It’s just a small feature. A small on/off switch. Nothing more. Please and thank you!
Feels like cheating. (The programming)
Thu Feb 22 2024 Another comment from meLet me start by saying that I have loved this game for years. I have gotten every since daily challenge since 2019. But these past few months if has felt like the programming has changed. It feels like there is a set amount of times you need to try and beat a level before it will let you beat it. (I’m guessing to try and make people stay in the app longer)
Doing this has changed the rewarding feeling of solving a puzzle. To now, which feels like I am fighting the game programming in hopes that the system doesn’t cheat me again.
Example: Depending on the puzzle (even high score challenges) when you start everything feels regular, like it has always been. You get pieces and you figure out how to place them. But now it seems that once you get to a point, the games can see you are getting close to the goal and it will send you only bad, large pieces until you die. Which normally takes about 2 or 3 turns. I’ve been playing it enough that I can almost predict when it will happen. Please just go back to giving random pieces so it actually feels like a puzzle game again, instead of playing Russian roulette, hoping that this time the game will not make it impossible to win.
I love the game. But these past couple of months it feels like a battle, instead of relaxing.
I used to love this game
Sun Feb 25 2024 LyssadehartI have played this game for years. I loved the daily challenge, I enjoyed working on the self determined game, but then something changed. It started on my phone. I opened the app one day and all of the sudden I was forced to play a new version with flowers and bushes. I wasn’t given an option, and I really don’t like the experience. I can’t even tell you exactly why, but I detest the flower version. So, I deleted it off my phone. I still had the game on my iPad and it was the same old version, so I at least had that.
Yesterday, I opened my app, ready for my relaxing daily challenge, and what has corrupted my iPad you ask? The new non-negotiable flower version. I finally reached out to help, saying I detest the flower version and how do I go back to the plain version? “Oh, there’s no way to do that, we understand change is hard, but this is what you have now…” Really? My husband is still playing the old version on both his phone and iPad. And I’m sort of curious who thought the flower version was better and why game players couldn’t have an option, given both games still exist.
I don’t mind change, but the new version isn’t better to me. Visually it’s annoying to my eyes. I can’t say if the annoyance is due to the stupid flowers, or to the complete lack of choice. What I can say is that I’ve now deleted it off my iPad and will go find a new game. One that doesn’t make me angry to play.
Good App but a few suggestions
Thu Apr 09 2020 Mr. Jon young the gunI like almost all the features yet from a potential standpoint I think a few additional features are necessary to make it a truly A1 app. One change is to allow you to disable in settings the ability for it to glow before you place the block down so you don’t know how your decision will affect the turn. Another more important feature would be to save states. For example, if you added a third game mode for practice you should allow the ability to move backwards in plays and the only way to do so would be to keep track of the states whether that is through an array or otherwise(stack) this could even be implemented as a setting features on any game mode or in a premium version as it would be a crucial tool for learning from your mistakes!
Edit: In addition look at A* search or Greedy algorithm to create a system of which blocks you generate for the turn. This should allow to integrate a difficulty setting into the game because you will know which blocks produce the most points and you can if let’s say they choose hard difficulty make sure it’s only giving them the blocks that only fit into one particular spot on the board.
HUGE increase in ads making this unplayable
Tue Feb 06 2024 KGZ12345I don’t know what happened in the last week or so, but you’ve made what was my favorite app nearly unplayable. I play games like this both for fun AND as therapy for recovering from a brain injury and related side effects. I’ve been so thankful for this game, and honestly I was glad there were some ads so the developers could make some money but I wouldn’t have to pay. Then the other day I opened the app and I was fed an ad NOT only before a round and after the round, but the game was interrupted to feed me one in the middle of playing! I never write reviews, but I was just playing the event and it happened again, before it opened the round, ONE move before I finished it, and then again after I hit the desired point total. It’s so completely jarring to the thought process to stop you in the middle. I should say that in addition to more than three times the number of ads I’m suddenly seeing, the ads are almost all three times as long! They used to be :05 second ads but now are :15 or more. I’m getting so distracted by them all that the benefits I used to get by playing are now essentially all lost. I don’t know why you’d do this, but please be aware that it’s absolutely being noticed and if you’re not already, you’ll be losing people if you don’t do something about it soon.
Ads in free version are disturbing
Fri Mar 25 2022 Neesie913I’ve had this game on my phone for almost a year and I love it. I have the free version because I’m a graduate student scraping by on student loans. The ads for other games that pop up are so disturbing that it makes me want to delete the game. Just a few minutes ago, an ad popped up for a game where a mom and infant come home to find the husband in bed with another woman. She packs her bags and leaves. Her new home is in terrible shape so the game is you fixing up the place, but you have the option to let them freeze to death. In fact, that’s how the game is advertised: you get to watch the mom and infant shiver as the designer puts snow around them and leaves a gaping hole in place of a broken window.
This is just one of about 3 or so other games like this advertised on the free version of Blockudoku. It’s repulsive. Is the marketing strategy to upset players with these ads so much that they buy the game? I sincerely hope not.
3 star rating because the game itself is great but the ads bring the rating way down.
Rare review
Thu Nov 16 2023 BaseballexpertThe last time a reviewed an app was over ten years ago. But this game is so frustrating that I had to write a review in the hopes that the developers are listening. Let me start off by saying that the game is good. I even spent the money to remove the ads. But after playing it far too many times, I have concluded that it is not a great game because of one large problem. It’s fun for the first half of a game: you build your strategy, getting blocks to fit “just right” and then after about ten minutes, it becomes impossible. It’s as if the algorithm knows which blocks you need and instead gives you blocks you cannot use, thereby causing a rapid end to an otherwise enjoyable experience. It seems as if the 4,000 point mark (which takes about 10 minutes to achieve on average) is when the “evil algorithm” kicks in and does you in. Lest the developers think I am just complaining, I am offering up a suggestion: make the game more like Tetris in two ways. First, allow the player to rotate blocks. Second, show the player a preview of the next three blocks. Without these changes, this remains one of the most frustrating games I have ever played.
RIGGED! This WAS a great game until a few weeks ago
Tue Feb 06 2024 William H. Burnsides IIII’ve loved playing this game, until it was recently updated. Prior to the update, I was able to score over 17,000 points at my highest, and multiple times over 10,000. Now it’s almost impossible to score over 4,000. I say almost because I’ve been able to get a little over 5,000 since the update. Basically what happens now is you reach around 3,500 points and the game stops giving random pieces and just gives you a bunch of garbage pieces until you lose, typically between 3,700 and 3,800.
It is so frustrating, and it feels like having a video game where you are stuck on an infinite loop of level one.
I don’t think I’ve ever wrote a review for an app, but after reaching out to support (crazy, I know), and hearing back that they are sorry that I don’t like the update but that they did it for the enjoyment of all players, I’m just frustrated enough to be writing this. I can only imagine the idea is to close the performance gap between players as it relates to tournaments or something, which I never do.
As long as you are new to the game and can’t break 3,000, you might still like the game, but once you cross that threshold, get ready because the game wants you to lose.
The new update has issues
Sat Dec 02 2023 IlikethisappverymuchI love this game. I’ve beaten every daily challenge since April of 2021, and in small doses I’ll likely never get tired of it. The new update was pretty cool to see, since the gameplay can become pretty 1 note after a bit of playing. However, it’s clear that the mechanics were not tuned or given enough attention before being released. As it stands, some levels are basically impossible to beat because of how the new systems work. I’m currently stuck on a level that requires you to collect 4 different type of gems, the only issue is that the level does not provide you enough gems to actually beat it. Once you clear the screen of all pre-existing gems the game is incredibly stingy with providing more gems in order to actually complete the levels. I strongly urge the developers to make some tweaks to this new gameplay so that it can be fully enjoyed and not bogged down by these striking issues These changes are a welcome addition to the game all things considered, but ideally they should be regulated to a seperate game mode and keep the existing challenges relatively unchanged.
Random or pre-determined?
Sat Dec 21 2019 SayNoToCashHungryDevsI downloaded this game because it looked like an interesting and challenging puzzle game. While those things did seem to be true at first, it seems as if the tiles you receive are not random as the developers state. When I first started playing, I was able to achieve multiple games with scores over 1000. Now, I can not even come close to achieving that. It would be blasphemous to assume that my strategy/skill at the game has decreased, so what exactly is the reason for this? While it could be purely coincidence, I would bet that the developers purposefully created the game in such a manner that makes it essentially impossible to top a player’s high score. I have come to this conclusion through not only my experience, but the experience of other reviewers. By intentionally making the game more, players will play the game increasingly more in order to beat their high score. The more people play, the more ad revenue the creators collect. While I cannot be certain in my assumption, I am confident that this is the case. It seems unethical and, quite frankly, pathetic. The concept of this game is awesome, and I commend the developers for that. However, I refuse to overlook this stain on what is an otherwise very-well created game. I would love to hear back from the developers about the perceived randomness of this game.
