Blokus World Tour
by Amanda Nettgen
(USA)
Quick verdict
Game:
Bl0kus World Tour
Download from:
GameHouse (FULL FREE version when you open a FREE trial Fun Tickets account!
Rating:
3/5
Blokus World Tour is the downloadable version of the award-winning board game, plus a whole lot more. It has a rich single player experience, but can be played with your friends as well.
What's it about?
The main feature of this game is the aspect for which is named: the World Tour. After selecting an avatar and typing in your name under Change Player, hit the topmost tab reading Join World Tour.
You start in Japan and compete in Blokus game tournaments against computer opponents. You must pass the rounds to move onto the next World Tour country. Computers are of increasing difficulty, and you’ll be playing a few different versions of the real-life Blokus games (Classic, Duo, or Classic Two-Player) with each country.
As you annihilate the AI players, your personal Blokus prowess rank will go up. You start as a Rookie, but can advance to such labels as The Champ or The Star.
A breakdown of your Blokus game stats can be seen in the top right-hand corner of the screen each time you log in to play. It’ll tell you how many tournaments you’ve crushed, the number of Gold Bloks you’ve acquired, keep a tally of your completed challenges and count which curious-looking computer personas you’ve defeated.
What are Gold Bloks and Challenges? If you’re familiar with the Xbox 360 system, Gold Bloks are kind of like achievements you earn by completing various tasks (finish a tournament or place 1,000 bloks, for example). They range from easy to get to nearly impossible. There are 21 Gold Bloks in all, and they look like Blokus pieces. They have their own special page for you to proudly display them from the game menu.
As for challenges, they’re another inclusion that’s an extra or bonus compared to playing just regular Blokus. You won’t be playing any Blokus games, but rather manipulating game pieces to meet the criteria described in a current one.
An example is only having one piece left and choosing to situate it somewhere that will diffuse a tie between you and the others. You can get up to a three-star rating for each of the challenges.
With Blokus World Tour, there is also Quick Play. Squeeze in a Classic, Duo, or Classic Two-Player game with some buddies without having to get out all of the pieces from the physical board game version. You can also practice playing against AIs ranging from Rookie to Legend on your own.
Other computer and video board games you might enjoy!
Battleship Fleet Command game (PC)
Blokus World Tour (PC)
Carcassonne board game (XBox 360)
Cafe Mahjongg (PC)
Clue Classic (PC and Mac)
Family Feud (PC game)
The Game of Life (PC)
The Game of Life, Yahtzee and Payday video game (GameBoy Advance)
The Game of Life: Path to Success (PC)
Hasbro Family Game Night (XBox 360 and Wii)
Hasbro Game of Life
Mahjongg XP Championship (PC)
Monopoly (PC game)
Monopoly 3 (PC)
XBox 360 Monopoly game
Risk board game (download for PC)
Risk 2 computer game (PC)
Scrabble (download for PC)
Scrabble Blast! (PC)
Scrabble Journey (PC)
Settlers of Catan (XBox 360)
Skip Bo Castaway Caper (PC)
Spongebob Atlantis Square Off
Spongebob Squarepants Monopoly (PC)
Ticket to Ride game (XBox 360)
Trivial Pursuit Silver Screen edition (PC)
Uno Undercover (PC)
Uno video game (XBox 360)
Wheel of Fortune (download for PC)
Yahtzee (download for PC)
Yahtzee Texas Holdem (PC)
Computer board games HQ
Pros and cons
Blokus World Tour has enough content to start a mini career for a participating gamer. The added features of Gold Bloks and challenges are truly appreciated. You can even go back and play it all over again from a higher starting difficulty (which you select when you create your character).
Cons-wise, the game is laced with a few bugs (which may have been patched since I downloaded it, but just giving you a heads up). My screen sometimes freezes during the ending animation of a tournament, forcing me to play that round all over again the next time the game loads.
I personally have hit a wall playing this game, for two reasons. First, I cannot seem to beat the final country in the World Tour, despite numerous attempts - it’s just that hard (and I started on an overall difficulty level of easy, I think!). Secondly, the game won’t let me play my remaining challenges until I get a certain star rating on previous ones, which isn’t an easy task either.
The verdict
If you’re a Blokus fan, Blokus World Touris a fairly good investment. Just be prepared to be frustrated when you can no longer advance through the game.