Get ready for your next match-three app purchase. Are we serious? Aren’t there enough (too many) match-three games in the app store? While it is arguable that iTunes needs another match-three style game looking to ride the Bejeweled bandwagon, Groovin’ Blocks is not your common match-up app. As the name implies, Groovin’ Blocks has been placed by Zoo Games as more of a jam session experience than a traditional puzzler. And rather than riding the wave of me-toos in the App Store, Groovin’ Blocks rides off it’s own previous success in the Wiiware download store.

A little time with Groovin’ Blocks will remind you of visiting your favorite dance club. Any fan of techno beats and flashing lights will most likely get into this app’s groove. While it has rhythm at its soul, it has puzzling at its heart. Similar to Tetris in layout, players must arrange stacks of colored blocks in an empty space. Blocks are eliminated by matching three or more blocks of the same color. By this process space is freed up for the oncoming blocks from above. Power-ups and multipliers are introduced into the mix by aligning downward arrow hits with beat vibes scrolling in from the sides of the screen. Multipliers remain activated as long as blocks are dropped into place in step with the game rhythm. Dropping blocks with special symbols on them to the beat awards power-ups. Power-ups can increase the value of nearby blocks or can blow up blocks around the power-up holder.

The game sports 50 levels of jiving action all arranged according to song. Locked levels can be accessed through achievements involving matches, power-ups, and multipliers. Three different difficulty levels - Casual, Experienced, and Hard - are available. Songs have a noticeable Nintendo feel to them, yet each is different enough from the others to make things interesting. The user interface is well arranged; however the instructions boxes could use a little stylish attention in our opinion. Zoo Games has not built in an online scoring system yet, but we think they will be adding these features in the near future.

Certainly, Groovin’ Blocks is no off-the-shelf match three puzzle title. It truly has Tetris on the brain, but pulls off enough originality to set itself apart from the crowd. At its current selling price of $1.99, we highly recommend Groovin’ Blocks for anyone who wants to bust a move while solving a few puzzles along the way.

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