Review: KULA BLOX

24 Sep, 2011

Title: KULA BLOX
Platform: Mac, PC, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad (reviewed on iPad)
Developer: Transgaming Studios, Inc.
Publisher: Transgaming Studios, Inc.
TL;DR: Cartoonish, eat-or-be-eaten freefaller
Family Friendly?: Click here to skip the detail and see if this game is right for your family!

Rather than wait until the end of the review, I am going to be upfront about it: KULA BLOX is probably my favorite game on my iPad right now. This game embodies what games made for touch screen devices should be like. Rather than trying to imitate games made for other consoles and recreate them for the iPad, these developers looked at how people use the iPad, what its features were, and built the game around it.

The graphics were my favorite part of this game. From the beginning of the game, when you are presented with the background story in comic book form, the graphics are great. Through the story, you learn that the animals were all once cargo on a trucker-style pilot’s plane before being dumped out.

The game is a freefaller that takes place in three worlds: The Jungle, The Savannah, and The Forest. You play as a predator that freefalls onto smaller prey to eat it. Every time you eat prey a skull-filled cloud appears, representing a sad poof of death. After masticating for a while, you grow and can eat larger prey. Throughout the entire freefall, bigger predators run into you, causing injury. (The hit points are represented by hearts à la Zelda. I loved it.) Three knocks from those bad boys and you’re dead.

In each level, you have to meet at least one prey goal before advancing to the next level. Each prey goal consists of a number of a specific prey you must eat, e.g.: 40 Hyenas. Eat forty hyenas and you’re golden. Otherwise, keep trying until you unlock and advance. You also unlock access to new predators. Each has different abilities. So when you feel like adding a little spice to your life you can switch things up, select a different crate and live life as a new predator.

I ran into only one negative while playing the game and I’m pretty sure it’s unrelated to KULA BLOX itself. At one point I opened up the app to play and all my progress had been lost. It very easily could have been a problem with Gamecenter, as I’ve heard of people having problems with other games on Gamecenter before, and since I haven’t come across anyone else having this issue with KULA BLOX specifically. But honestly, I really didn’t mind playing through all the levels again since they are fun.

All in all, this game is definitely worth a download.

The Good

• GREAT graphics
• Fantastic sound effects
• Perfect example of a wonderfully designed iPad/iPod/iPhone game

The Bad

• Lost my progress unexpectedly (more likely a Gamecenter issue than KULA BLOX issue)
• Difficulty progressed just a tad unevenly, but it made for more interesting gameplay

Family Focus

As long as your kids know about the food chain, circle of life, etc. and aren’t scared of it, this is about as family friendly as it gets.