Video Game Review: Numblast

My brother downloaded a game neither of us had ever heard of on the off chance that it might be interesting. Apparently the off chance was a pretty good one because we have between the two of us racked up more than forty hours on Numblast since he downloaded it three days ago. Considering it takes about a half hour to play to level thirty, this is not hard to believe. Numblast is a colorful puzzle game with the stated intention of fixing a mistake made by one of the characters.

Aoyama accidently turned his friend, Akasaka into a monkey while studying some mysterious cube artifacts and now must discover how to change him back.

The game seems very simple. You group four or more numbers together and they flip to the next number or in the case of the number four, flip down to one. This is the simplest move of the entire game. However, if you really want to rack up the score, you must combo the blocks together. Once a grouping has flipped, you can add more blocks onto it by placing blocks of the 'new' number in a formation next to it. So a group of fours turns into a group of ones, then by adding two new ones onto the original grouping, you can extend your combo and increase your score.

Seems really simple, right? Well, of course it does. Until you are confronted with the black blocks and multi-blocks that require a little more thinking. Groups of four black blocks cannot be rotated and every time you rotate a multi-block, it changes numbers, meaning you have to think a little harder strategy-wise in order to keep going.

However, before you think the game has completely hung you out to dry, the star pops up. The star block has the mysterious ability to connect to blocks at a distance from the original group created. Create a group of four with the star included and every block with the same number will light up and start making blocks of its own. A great way to survive when it seems as if the entire screen is about to be taken over by the black blocks, which is game over.

Numblast comes with three primary modes: Endless (you play until you die), Time Trial (3 minutes to get your highest possible score), and Puzzle (you are going to need your noodle). Deceptively simple and undeniably fun, Numblast will keep you glued to your seat as you try to beat your own best score.

Biggest drawbacks:

The background sounds. After about a half an hour, the background music and the constant yelling of Aoyama and Akasaka gets annoying. This is a game I prefer to play with the sound off.

Getting a Numblast, for which the game is named, is REALLY, REALLY hard! You have to clear the entire board, in one combo. I have yet to achieve this feat.

Numblast is available for download through the Playstation Network and also has a PSP version. It was originally released in 2009.