''Groovin' Blocks'' is a

puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...

for

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

Empty Clip Studios Empty Clip Studios, LLC is a video game developer based in San Diego, California and founded in July 2007. It was formed by Francois Bertrand and Matt Shores. On September 8, 2008, the company released their debut game ''Groovin' Blocks'', a mus ...

. It was released in North America on September 8, 2008 as a downloadable

WiiWare WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...

game. It was also released as an expanded retail of the game in North America on August 11, 2009. The game was later released for the

iPhone OS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long and ...

platform and on

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

on March 18, 2010.

Gameplay

''Groovin' Blocks'' is a falling block-type puzzle game with gameplay that has been likened to ''

Columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

'' and ''

Lumines (pronounced as "Loo-min-ess") is a puzzle video game series developed by Q Entertainment. The core objective of the games is to survive by rotating and aligning 2×2 blocks varying between two colors to form 2×2 squares of a single color whi ...

''.Groovin' Blocks (WiiWare) Review
/ref> The game sees players having to clear lines of three or more blocks of the same color, and like ''Columns'' players can cycle through the falling lines of blocks, with adjacent blocks of the same color also disappearing with the matched lines. In addition, extra points can be scored when players bring their falling blocks down to the downbeats (called "Superbeats") of the game's

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

soundtrack, adding to a score multiplier. By setting high scores, players collect stars to unlock new songs and

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...

s. Unlike most puzzle games which are played to infinity, each stage in ''Groovin' Blocks'' lasts for the duration of the song if the player has not yet failed the stage by filling their play area with blocks. The game also features offline two player competitive and co-operative modes, as well as an option for

colorblind Color blindness, color vision deficiency (CVD) or color deficiency is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. The severity of color blindness ranges from mostly unnoticeable to full absence of color perception. Color bl ...

players that turns the different colored blocks into shapes.

Reception

''Groovin' Blocks'' received mixed reviews from critics upon release, with the Wii version getting more positive reviews compared to the PlayStation 3 version. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the game holds scores of 68/100 for the PlayStation 3 version based on 6 reviews, and 75/100 for the Wii version based on 13 reviews. On

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

, the game holds scores of 75.17% for the PlayStation 3 version based on 6 reviews, and 75.46% for the Wii version based on 13 reviews.

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

gave the Wii version of ''Groovin' Blocks'' a 7.6/10, calling the game a fun "one trick pony" and a "pretty impressive" first effort from the developers. Siliconera called it "a deceptively addictive, fun little gem" that is "a great hybrid of the puzzle and music genres".Getting into the groove with Groovin' Blocks
/ref>

References

{{Reflist 2008 video games Empty Clip Studios games Falling block puzzle games IOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games North America-exclusive video games PlayStation Network games Video games developed in the United States WiiWare games