Ever wanted to be an architect or a structural engineer? Do you enjoy building legos or bridges made out of matches? Well if the answer is yes to any of these questions you should find the iPad puzzle game, BuildnBash3D HD by Skapp Enterprises right up your alley. Think of it as a 360 degree building simulator with elements of Tetris thrown in. Instead of focusing on building the entire layouts with bricks and mortar, you just lay out the outer parts of the construction by placing beams on top of each other until completion. Your workers will automatically do the rest thus leaving you as the designer of the outer perimeter. Along the way, you will encounter competitors who will bash your work while you bash theirs, in an effort to be the first one to the top.

Review
The game is basically a 3D puzzle game like Tetris but with you building structures that have floor levels starting from the base all the way to the top level — thus until the structure is completed. In one gameplay variation, you take your time to find the correct places to place the beams and have to think strategically while in another it is basically just like Tetris where the beams come down automatically and you have to find places to arrange the beams quickly.

You place beams, that are oddly enough, similar to Tetris puzzle pieces that you can orient in different directions or shapes. After you place the beams in a correct layout so that the outer skeleton, or layout, of the structure is built in a square-like construction — the rest of the building’s floor, like bricks and walls, will be automatically generated. If you wait for more than one floor to pile up and put a piece to finish the larger structure layout, you will get a speed bonus and more points for such a maneuver.

When you first enter the game menu — after waiting through the loading screen — you will be taken to a various game options and modes represented mostly by icons like tools or helmets. The helmet icons represent players — either yourself, the AI or a human and you in the multiplayer mode. The tools icon represents a tutorial that does a descent job of introducing you into the mechanics of the game. A blond comic book-looking female character will guide you through various control options, all done from either swipes or taps on the left and right side of the screen.

The four game modes are: time challenge; character challenge; group challenge; and huddle mode split-screen challenge. The huddle mode split-screen challenge is a two player multiplayer mode. The two player play on one iPad in portrait orientation, where half of the screen is divided with each person controlling their half.

The group challenge mode is the main part of the game and its career mode basically. In this mode, you are pitted from two to four opponents (depending on structure) in two gameplay variations. The gameplay variations are either the Tetris-like Speed Battle and BuildnBash for the more patient and strategy oriented gamers.

When selecting a building structure to compete in, one of the two above-mentioned modes is automatically set for each structure and you can win career points so new structures can be unlocked. The career mode has you pitted against AI opponents in a battle who can reach the top of the building or build the whole structure first.

There is also a wide selection of buildings, some harder to build than others. The harder the building is to build — mostly based on how complicated the layout is — the more points you will earn for winning. As you build, you will be able to watch your opponents build their structures as well on the sides of the screen in small diagrams showing what they are doing. You will also be able to throw attacks or use special moves at them and they will return the favor to you or each other. You collect or obtain these attacks by defeating opponents in the character challenge mode first.

In this character challenge mode, that can also be selected from the main menu, you compete in building various structures against one opponent at a time. You will face various computer personalities or characters who specialize all in one special move they will use against you. As you use special moves or obtain them by defeating each challenger, you will learn that some are easily blocked by pressing an icon at the top of the screen — like a fire icon will stop an ice attack so you can block it that way. However, some special moves, like a tornado attack, have no defense against them.

You can select who you want to face (some aren’t available to challenge right away), and their skill along with occupation is displayed. Besides the already mentioned tornado or ice attacks there are all kinds of others like a termite attack or an earthquake attack. Each of the comic-book looking characters are quite generic looking but amusing as well during the matches when you can hear them react to your attacks with their animated icon appearing on the screen. They all have their own personalities and backgrounds — mostly based on stereotypes. The accents, as well as the little taunts they say represent their ethnicities or backgrounds.

There is also a time trial mode where you choose a building to compete against your best time to complete it. You won’t have to worry about using special moves in this mode but can concentrate on just placing beams in the right spots. In time trial, a speed gameplay variation also exists but it isn’t called speed battle just speed building. The blond tutorial lady explains speed building as a “fast and furious non-stop beam drop.”

The presentation overall is pretty good. Along with the 3D graphics, the music and background sound effects are good. In the menu, an electro type of music plays getting you in the mood for a relaxation type of puzzle game. There are also honking sounds and other little touches when you enter or exit menus.

The default control method is based on four main actions. They are the left-hand swipe, the left-hand tap, the right-hand swipe and the right-hand tap. Tapping with the left hand has you orient the beam in various positions like sideways or upside down so it can fit a particular position or area and connect to other beams. While swiping on the left-hand part of the screen will move that beam around in its current position-orientation until you see it connected to the other beam endpoints that you want. A right-handed swipe moves the camera around 360 degrees and the right tab places the beam down to the desired location. There is no undo command and often when you want to move the camera a beam will be placed instead, due to the game sometime not recognizing the subtle difference between a right-handed swipe and a tap. There are also icons on the lower parts of the screen that do the same thing as on-screen touch controls, however, and may be helpful in avoiding such mistakes.

There is also a classic control option from the menu as well. In this method of control, you can swipe with either hand on the touchscreen to rotate the camera and have to use the icon controls on the lower corners of each side for moving and positioning the beams. A simple tap from either side will place the beam down on the structure. In both of these control options, the display on the upper right has icons for special moves or attack powers and the number of them at your disposal. While below the special move icons there are hollow circles representing how many levels you advanced toward the top, turning green after each advance upwards.

The game has a couple of shortcomings that I think could be addressed with updates. One of which is the camera. I am not talking about the standard top-down camera view that is shown when entering a match but the way to change the camera orientation during the matches to look around your structures. This is done, again, by swiping from the left side (or both sides if classic controls are enabled) and allows to change the viewing angle. It is useful for being able to see different sides of the structure you are building to know where to put the beams. The problem lies in the fact that you swipe one way and the screen turns the opposite way. Or, sometimes, as your camera keeps turning and you are swiping it will just start turning the opposite way despite you are swiping the whole time in one direction.

Another problem and complaint about the game are the controls. When you try placing beams sometimes it is hard to put it on the exact spot you want it. This is especially the case when there are more than one floor levels you are simultaneously working on and if there are a lot of endpoints of the beams to choose from — like a wide square foot base floor.

Tips
Work your way through the character challenge first. You will gain skills and experience for the much tougher group challenge (career) mode and gain special moves to use against opponents. Also, try your hand at the time challenge mode to get used to various layouts and building structures.

Recommendation
BuildnBash3D HD is recommended for any puzzle fan, Tetris addict or aspiring engineer who happens to be a gamer. The title has some shortcomings, notably in camera and control, but with patience can be mastered. BuildnBash3D HD is available on the App Store for $3.99.

Gameplay Video

Photos

Note: A promotional code was provided by the creator for use in this article.

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