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Chinese Square
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| First Impression |
Hmm.. The title pic on this screen loads awfully slow. The actual game is okay. It's a Tetris - like game, with falling blocks, but there are differences. The blocks are completely randomly sized and colored, and when they land, they stop at the highest level of previous blocks and makes all of the blocks beneath it square off around the top of the block and fills in all of the extra holes. It's kind of hard to explain, so look at the second screenshot. :P The object is to get the highest score, while not letting any blocks hit the top of the screen. Think Tetris, but with the object to fill the screen equally, and not to get lines.
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| What It's Like |
I kind of described the game in the First Impression section. To earn more points, you have to hold the down arrow, which also speeds up the block speed. You can move the pieces like in Tetris (enter and space flip, left and right move...well...guess :) You have to play it to completely understand the objective and what it's about.
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| Other things you should know |
This game was, in the words of Cheng-Ning was developed from the old game "Chinese square". I never heard of Chinese Square before, but maybe you have. Also, according to Cheng-Ning, (a lot of things are according to the almighty God of the QBASIC/QuickBASIC Programming Corner), you should have at least a 133 Mhz to run this at the right speed. That's all I have to say. Now I have to review this game.
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| The rating |
| Graphics |
They aren't good. They're simple, standard QB fare. There are very few colors used (mostly white), and the graphics are just there to represent the falling blocks, or where blocks have already fallen. :P There's also a very simple border around the play screen. That's about it.
*** |
| Sound |
A nice little PC speaker tune plays in the background. There are also sound effects to listen to. The music is really nice for the PC speaker. I really like it! The sound effects are simplistic, but fitting. You can turn off the sound if you want.
**** |
| Gameplay/Control |
The game goes a little fast, but other than that, the control is excellent. It's responsive and simple to learn. THe coolest part is that you can use bombs by pressing 'delete', which is cool. :) It's your standard play control, though, and works great for this game.
**** |
| Flexibility/Features |
There aren't very many menu like things to choose from, but there are a few extra features. Take a look at all of the little counters and stuff on the second screenshot. That's enough for an okay, score, but there should be things like difficulty levels and other kinda...things... :P
*** |
| Overall Impression |
There are few puzzle games made in QB. Most are RPG or action-type games. Of the few puzzle games, this is pretty good. This game was made in 1996, at the dawn of the online QBASIC community. It's a fun game for a while, but it has it's qwirks (like most amateur QB games). It can use a lot of improvement, but I like it! Download it if you're a Tetris nut, or are looking for something to waste a half an hour or so on. And if you ever happen to go back to this game, you can always try to beat your high scores. :)
**** |
| Total |
18/25 * 4 =
72% |
