Bloxer is a VR fitness take on Tetris that combines the classic block-lining gameplay with boxing.
It’s developed by Incuvo Inc, the studio behind titles like Pirates VR: Jolly Roger, TRACKED: Shoot to Survive, and VR versions of such existing games as Green Hell and Bulletstorm.
As the description above suggests, Bloxer’s core gameplay is immediately familiar to anyone who’s ever played Tetris or its many clones: colored blocks fall down across a vertical field, and you have to arrange them into matching rows in order to clear up room for more blocks and prevent the screen from being filled. The twist, of course, is how you go about moving those falling blocks: by punching a robot control box in front of you.
Blocks are moved left and right by performing hooks, uppercuts rotate them, and punching down makes them fall faster once you’ve got the position right. There is also an alternate control scheme that has you jab with your left and right hands to move the blocks and perform hooks to rotate them, but I mainly just stuck with the default setting. Just like in regular Tetris, games can get increasingly frantic as the falling speed increases, with the added element of punching making gameplay feel more like a genuine workout as the game goes on.
There are two single-player modes: Endless, where the game keeps going until the blocks reach the top, and Time Attack, in which you try to build up a High Score before the clock runs out. You can check your scores and compare them with those of other players around the world from the menu screen.
Users can also compete online in 9-player matches to see who can rack up a high enough score. In addition to all the usual punches and combos, players can sabotage their opponents by placing “Garbage Blocks” on their field, hindering their ability to avoid a game over. Players can also counterattack, adding another layer of strategy to the fast-paced action.
Not quite the same as you remember…
If you want to take a break, there is a VR hub outside the main game filled with physical objects to pick up and minigames like a punching speedbag, a basketball net, whack-a-mole, and even dart guns. These have nothing really to do with the primary game, but they are a fun distraction nonetheless. It’s a pleasant surprise just how much detail and effort went into something like this, when a simple menu screen would have sufficed.
Bloxer’s visual and audio presentation is decisively retro, with neon colors and a synthesized announcer voice that fits the idea of this being an updated version of the Tetris games that have been a staple of arcades and other platforms since the 1980s. You can also hear the control box react in pain when it’s being hit, which is a cute novelty.
For the most part, Bloxer is a solid, motion-controlled take on the classic Tetris formula that most gamers are already familiar with, with the added element of punching to move or rotate the falling blocks making it as much of a physical challenge as it is a mental one. Fitness-focused players might find some use for Bloxer in their next VR workout, and there is plenty of nostalgic charm for people of any age.
