Pullblox (Pushmo) Review

Video games have changed a lot over the years. Mario is now in stereoscopic 3D, and Zelda’s design is currently based around motion control. One thing that hasn’t changed though is gamers’ love for block puzzles. Yes, that’s right, block puzzles. If you haven’t played with a virtual block at some point during your life, then really, you shouldn’t be calling yourself a gamer. That’s all there is to it. Like it or not, the pushing and pulling of blocks has always been an essential element of video game design. In fact, Nintendo loves blocks so much that they even created an entire battle map in Mario Kart 64 dedicated to blocks, Block Fort. Right now, I feel as if I’m about to go into a “Top 10 block puzzle moments in video game history”, but I’ll resist the temptation and get on with what I’m actually meant to be talking about.

Pullblox (known as Pushmo in the US and Hiku-Osu in Japan) is a new Nintendo eShop title developed by Intelligent Systems. If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve played a Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, WarioWare or Paper Mario game before. Their history with blocks goes way back as well. They created Alleyway for Game Boy (recently released on the Nintendo eShop), the fantastic Tetris Attack for Super Nintendo, Nintendo Puzzle Collection for GameCube, Pokémon Puzzle Challenge for the Game Boy Color way back in 2000, and more recently Planet Puzzle League for DS.

Intelligent Systems’ latest title Pullblox is quite possibly the greatest block game they have ever created. It takes block puzzles to an all new level, combining a 3D platform experience with something that looks like it’s straight out of the walls of Tetris. To explain all of this, Intelligent Systems have been nice enough to attach a short trailer to the beginning of the game. The player takes control of Mallo, a strange little character who looks like he’s dressed up in a red sumo wrestler outfit. Mallo travels to a place called Pullblox Park (a fun location filled with puzzles called Pullblox), meets a creepy old guy named Papa Blox and ends up having to save a lot of kids who keep getting stuck in the Pullblox around the park due to some mischief makers and partly their own carelessness.

From here, you’re thrown straight into the action. Papa Blox starts you out with an extensive tutorial and then moves you on to some basic puzzles. The objective of every Pullblox puzzle is to climb up and pull out the “kid”, as Papa Blox refers to them as, stuck in the top block. Every Pullblox starts out as a flat wall and is made up of various smaller blocks. Pullblox and the blocks within them can be of any shape, size and colour, and each block within the Pullblox has three layers of movement. The player must guide Mallo to the top by pushing and pulling the individual blocks making up the Pullblox to create some sort of path leading upwards. Besides these actions, Mallo also has the ability to jump and move about in the layers of each puzzle.

The game slowly increases in difficulty, depth and addictiveness by adding in extra movement options. Eventually the side pull manoeuvre and more are introduced. The side pull allows Mallo to be on top of multiple layers of blocks and still extend blocks above him to their full length. When the basics have been mastered the game then introduces advanced Pullblox. These advanced Pullblox puzzles are much larger than the basic ones and include various devices such as manholes and switches within them to enhance the level of complexity. Manholes are used to teleport between various blocks, but the challenge is often activating multiple ones at the same time whilst making sure surrounding block layers don’t obstruct them. The 3D is genuinely helpful in these situations. Another interesting device which adds an extra layer (no pun intended) to the gameplay in Pullblox is coloured switches. These switches automatically move any block of the same colour out to the third layer, which can help or hinder you depending on where Mallo is located at the time.

Once you’ve become familiar with things, Pullblox starts getting serious. About halfway in, puzzles start becoming much harder. Blocks are required to be pulled in and out multiple times during each stage and then there are the manholes and more to worry about at the same time if you want your solution to a particular Pullblox puzzle to be executed perfectly. Thankfully Intelligent Systems have added in a number of tools to assist the player and thereby stop them from slamming their 3DS into the nearest wall whenever they can’t beat a stage. There’s the option to rewind time, in case you get something wrong and need to go back to a certain point, and then there’s also the option to completely skip a puzzle if you’re having too much trouble with it. These options mean players won’t rage quit like they used to when it came to some of the missions in the Advance Wars games back in the day. The difficulty in general though is still very reminiscent of Intelligent Systems’ past games. The fact that Mallo is extremely easy to manoeuvre and the blocks are strangely addictive to play around with lightens the blow, though.

To add to the game, in the first half of it, you unlock a mode where you can create your own puzzles and then share them with your friends through the assistance of the QR code system. With hundreds of puzzles included in the main game, this extra option of creating your own Pullblox and being able to instantly download friends’ or randoms’ Pullblox extends the life of this title significantly. The sheer size of the game is something you’d expect to see in a standard priced game. It appears Intelligent Systems haven’t cut any corners in the gameplay department just because Pullblox is an eShop title. They’ve gone all out. The graphics and use of 3D seem to also be of a high standard too. In comparison to the latest games such as Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land, Pullblox looks just as impressive in its own cartoony way. The sound effects and tunes throughout the game are also just as good. The blocks make the noises you’d expect and the music is cheery and cute throughout the entire game.

Overall, Pullblox is a digital game that really shows off the potential of the Nintendo eShop/3DS Download Software service. For the price of AU$9, you’re essentially getting a very lengthy and highly addictive block puzzle game that feels like it could be boxed up and sold on a store shelf as a quality budget title. If you’ve played all the latest (physical) releases on the 3DS and are wondering what’s next, then head over to the eShop right now and pick up Pullblox. It’s not some cheap digital download thrill that’ll last you five seconds; it’s a top game that can stand proudly next to the likes of Mario Kart 7 and take some credit in helping to establish the 3DS as a next-gen gaming system.