I never thought I’d write an article about Blockchain.
Thankfully, I don’t mean that Blockchain. You can breathe easy and relax a little. I’m talking about the Blockchain that is an arcade cabinet with Arcade Paradise. A game within a game, and one I’m completely addicted to.
If you’ve not played Arcade Paradise (and if not, why?), it’s an arcade management simulator that sees you growing your own bustling arcade from nothing. In fact, Arcade Paradise is more like Laundrette Paradise in its first few hours as you operate and manage a bunch of washers and dryers in order to earn money to grow your arcade. There’s just a few old cabinets in the back, you see. They make more money than clothes-washing altogether. But your dad, old-fashioned as he is, won’t listen. You decide to grow the arcade anyway, of course.
As you grow it, you’ll spend less time laundrette-ing, and more time arcade-ing. And it’s only in the second half that Arcade Paradise really gets into its groove. You can largely abandon the loads of laundry that pile up inside your door and instead spend time playing games. There’s a huge range to choose from – Space Invaders clones, Bust-a-Move clones, even a Dance Dance Revolution-a-like – but the game I have chosen to sink all my time into is Blockchain.
It’s hard to describe Blockchain in simple terms. “Tetris with numbers” would be its elevator sales pitch. Random blocks numbered 1-7 fall from the top of the screen, and it’s your job to clear them. The number that drops needs to match the number of blocks in a row or column. Make a row of seven blocks, for example, and if any of them are numbered ‘7’ they’ll disappear. It’s tricky and requires plenty of strategy (which I, admittedly, don’t always have) but boy is it addictive.
Like most of the cabinets in Arcade Paradise, it turns out Blockchain is based on another game: a mobile game called Drop7. Alas, it’s no longer available. There go my dreams of playing something similar while I lay in bed. Developer Nosebleed Interactive needs to release Blockchain as a standalone game, then, to fill this gap in the market that I never knew existed until right now.
Anyway, my weekend will be spent playing Blockchain as I procrastinate from the several hundred other things I should be doing instead.
Here are the big news stories from this week:
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System Shock 3 is No Longer in Nightdive Studios’ Hands
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Game Pass is Getting Seven Humble Games on Day One
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A New Mafia Game is Currently in Development
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Rocksmith+, Ubisoft’s Guitar Tuition Subscription Service, Launches This September
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage Has Been Announced With More to Come Next Week
Our reviews from the last week:
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – The Cowabunga Collection (PS5), 7/10
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Slaycation Paradise (PS5), 8/10
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Immortality (PC), 7/10
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Madden NFL 23 (PS5), 7/10
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The Last of Us Part I (PS5), 10/10
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LEGO Brawls (PS5), 4/10
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Pac-Man World Re-Pac (PS5), 7/10
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JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R (PS5), 7/10
And here’s the content you’ve enjoyed consuming the most:
- The Easiest Platinum Trophies on PS Plus Extra
- LEGO Brawls Review
- The Best Games Like Pokémon on PS4 and PS5
- Cities: Skylines’ Latest DLC is Plazas and Promenades
