Blocks That Matter

The 2011 Dream.Build.Play results are in, and Swing Swing Submarine’s Blocks That Matter has emerged as the grand prize winner. The puzzle/platformer mash-up will take home $40,000 and a …
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XBLIG Monthly Roundup features five of the best Indie games from the past month of releases on the marketplace. There’s a lot to sift through on the XBLIG marketplace, so let us tell you what we found during our daily rounds. These are some of the best games that XBLIG has to offer for the month of May, 2011: Read More

Blocks That Matter was developed by Swing Swing Submarine and released on May 12, 2011 and costs 240 Microsoft Points.  A copy was provided by the developer for review purposes.

Sometimes our only salvation during times of need are the products of our own intuition — creative outputs that have lagged behind because of the brevity of our attention spans — in Blocks That Matter, this is a lowly driller-robot that is tasked with a mission to finally repay its Swedish creators that have been kidnapped by a shadowy duo with sinister intentions.

You are Tetrabot, a robot that resembles a washing machine with arms, legs, a drill and a spin cycle that crushes blocks that do in fact matter, because they are not only obstacles in Tetrabot’s adventure, but also the solutions to the game’s complex puzzles. You “collect” blocks by drilling into them, and then pause the action to place them into the playing field, providing pillars to jump off and reach higher terrain. The catch is that you can only place four blocks at a time and they must connect to each other. This one-of-a-kind gameplay element will make Braid veterans scratch their heads in delightful confusion, but also make them appreciate one of XBLIG’s most remarkable titles.

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