Super Happy Fun Block Review

Blocks are falling from the sky, in an astronomical occurrence like nobody could ever have imagined. Where do they come from, and why? Are these events linked to the falling of stars? Local astronomer's statements are spine-chilling: "Holy crap!", he says. These blocks, on top of that, are dangerous. Not only can they crush you if they land on you, but they also can lure you with their wide and warm grins and swallow you whole. And then they'll probably take your wife. Luckily, Industrial Town has a hero, Ball, the ball with arms, legs and superpowers.

You'd be surprised by how much of what the paragraph above is included in the game. This is the premise of the game, including the part where blocks seduce your wife. But that's greatly what Super Happy Fun Block is about: self-aware cheesy one-liners and witty puns; a sense of humour aligned with games like The Simpsons: Hit and Run. It doesn't bother with meaningful narrative or orchestral soundtrack, but focuses on the tiny details that will print a smile on your face. "Hi! I'm Sparkly Stevens! Just kidding! That would be a stupid name!", says one of the fallen stars you find. "Hi! I'm Sparkly Stevens! What are you laughing at?", says the one you find a few minutes later.

Its hand-drawn-like visual design is reminiscing of games like Scribblenauts, with visual puns all over the interactions. The comedic design of the characters - yes, Ball is a ball, but is opposed to the blocks, which have this shape due to the nature of the puzzles - is another extension of the tone that this game displays. The background, however, is generally kept quite barren and lifeless, which feels like a waste of comedic potential! Regarding gameplay, the visual cues regarding what you need to use in order to solve the puzzles are made obvious by the red and blue bichrome that configures the core of the puzzle system.

Ball has the power to change the 'filter' of the world. Each filter, whether blue or red, makes the colour blend with the environment, so all things of that colour disappear while it's on. The world is mainly black and white, but the fallen blocks give colour to it. These blocks are either one of the aforementioned two colours, and they block - no pun intended - the way to the fallen stars. As each colour makes some blocks disappear, you can take advantage and platform your way through accordingly, by solving puzzle sections that are far more intricate than it would seem at first glance. Indeed, which such a simple mechanic, the developers have created well thought out and brain-squeezing puzzles.

Much like most mobile games, Super Happy Fun Block has plenty of collectibles spread throughout the world (*rolls eyes*). In this case, these collectibles are fallen stars - and later on pieces of the moon -, required to power up the machine that a doppelganger of Einstein has built to repel the invasive blocks - not sure why, this game is not very clear with its narrative. But given the state I am in the game, it'll be impossible for me to do so. Well, this game is glitched, and giganticly so.

Every time I jump into the game, the number of stars I've got is 30. No more, no less, no matter how many I've actually collected. I need 60 stars to access the final level. I collected all stars but one - I just can't seem to figure out the puzzle. The problem is that I only have 30 bloody stars, and I can't pick up stars that I found earlier, as they're not there anymore. You see my problem, don't you? And the same goes for dialogue triggers getting stuck, or the game launching whenever it please - I had to update and reset the whole iPad to get it to work.

Don't get me wrong here. I played all accessible levels, I giggled like a teenager with the jokes, I enjoyed every single bit of the puzzles and I would recommend this game on a whim. But it is shocking the contrast between these big glitches and how smooth the gameplay runs within the levels. It's not game-breaking, and still quite playable, but I'm missing my final level. That's as far as it's annoyed me, and probably the reason why I'm not scoring it lower.