Review: Taktiko – A Fresh Twist on a Familiar Game

Eventually you have to get tired of rotating falling shapes to fit into the available space. What if you already had a screen full of blocks, and you had to draw various “tetrical” shapes to get rid of the blocks? That is the question asked of gamers by Taktiko, a great little iPhone based time killer from developer Cloudiko.

Overview

Taktiko takes the popular “fit the falling blocks into the space available” gameplay and turns it on its head. Instead of blocks that are falling on the screen, you’ll find the playfield completely full of bricks. Your job is to rid the screen of the bricks. How? draw them with your finger! (Or stylus, if that’s how you roll.)

As you play, on the left side of the screen you’ll see various shapes appear. These shapes will be familiar to anyone who has played Tetris. So, they’ll be familiar to everyone. Instead of using controls or gestures to rotate those pieces, you simply use your finger to trace the displayed shape on the screen full of blocks. As you trace the blocks, they will disappear. Your job is to make sure you leave enough available combinations of bricks to be able to trace any upcoming shape.

As you eliminate various blocks, it becomes more and more difficult to draw the required shapes. If you run out of any blocks that can create the shape, the game is over, plain and simple.

Long gameplay times are accomplished by strategic placements of your “drawings”. It gets tougher as you proceed, but don’t worry, if you eliminate an entire line of blocks, a new one will appear. So, with a little planning, you can play the game for quite a long period of time.

One great feature of the game is that there isn’t any time limit. You can take your time to plot your strategy. Combinations can be made by clearing multiple lines, leading to higher scores.

Verdict[rating:4.0]

I have to say, I wasn’t expecting much when I began playing the game, but it drew me in and once I got the hang of the strategy, it became very enjoyable to plot my next move and see what type of combos I could pull off.

I have played Tetris ever since its first release lo those many years ago, (Yes, some of us are still left from the 80s…) I found Taktiko to be an enjoyable twist on that familiar game. It’s a great game to kill time in a waiting room, or it can fill an evening as you try to beat your high score.

If you like these types of puzzle games, give Taktiko a shot. It’ll be worth your time.

Price: Free – Available now for the iPhone in the App Store (Direct Link)

Pros:

• Easy to learn, tough to master.
• The draw the shapes game play is refreshing twist on a familiar game scenario.
• The graphics are simple and easy to follow, I like the accent being put on gameplay instead of cosmetics. That said, it’s still an attractive game.

Cons:

• I wish it was updated to fill the iPhone 5 screen. If developers are going to hope to keep users coming back for more, they’re going to have to update their games to take advantage of their device’s new features.