GAMING
8-bit computers. Blask 2 nonetheless
manages to be captivating –
especially on iPad – due to the nature
of how you play.
The basics are much as you’d
expect for this style of game. Each
level finds you armed with some
lasers and targets. The idea is to get
light beams from the former to the
latter. But instead of rotating mirrors,
Blask 2 presents each level as a set
of tiny puzzle pieces. These can be
manipulated and overlapped, breaking
existing walls, which provides new
pathways for the laser beams and
alternate surfaces to deflect them.
It feels tactile and begs for you to
experiment. Instead of looking at a
set-up and logically thinking things
through, Blask 2 levels are often
solved through play. That might not
be as rewarding if you’ve a distinctly
logical brain, but it’s a lot of fun –
even when you chance
upon a solution almost
by accident, because
then you’ll want to
figure out why it
worked.
There are some
issues, notably in
levels unlocking in
a linear fashion, and
in smaller piecessometimes getting ‘lost’ beneath
larger ones. Broadly, though, this is a
vibrant, finger-friendly puzzler that
takes the best bits of its heritage and
reworks them to feel right at home on
the touchscreen.24.Day Repeat Day
Price: £4.99
On the surface, Day Repeat Day
appears mundane. It combines
smartphone tropes you’ll have seen
plenty of: match-three puzzling
and instant messaging. But the way
the game works with these things,
subverting conventions, propels it to
classic status.
The game begins with you taking
on a new role at the Joki corporation.
You chat with your boss and are
assigned tasks, presented as match-
three puzzles. Meet your quota (by
matching enough items) and you can24.