High Rise - A Puzzle Cityscape 4+

Good game in sore need of five-second undo, or something.

High rise is an immensely engaging puzzle game. I love that even after dozens of rounds, I am still discovering new rules and combinations and strategies. It has been very satisfying watching my high score slowly improve, and always fun to try and beat my current best. I also appreciate the ease at which this game functions as either a 15 minute puzzler or 3-hour logic gauntlet (slight exaggeration) depending on personal preference.

One of my few complaints is a big one, though, as it’s an accessibility problem. Too many times my game has been ruined by accidentally placing a stray block while rotating the view. I am disabled and my fingers are twitchy and clumsy. When you’re getting deep, it’s always a game ending error and it’s altogether too easy for it to happen. An undo button on a VERY short timer—or any other mechanism to help address an accidental-tap placement, I’m not a game designer— would be a massive improvement.

3.5 rounded to 4.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for your feedback. I'm afraid we are communicating badly that you already can switch to "double tap" in the options or, since update 1.6, also while playing in the pause menu. We also added an undo button (refilled score-based, so dont overuse it;))

Simple but addictive: One of the best mobile games

In a sea of ad-laden and substandard mobile games, High Rise is an infinitely playable and enjoyable puzzler. What really sets High Rise apart is its minimally interrupted gameplay experience. Ads occur only after losing the game, so a constant steam of advertising can’t interrupt the flow, which is a rare and welcome feature among mobile games. The option to remove ads completely is great but not critical to enjoying the game.

The mechanics are simple but take many trials to master. Having refined a reliable strategy, I can play the same round for multiple days, returning to it during a TV commercial break or while commuting. With focus, I regularly score in the hundreds of thousands (resulting in very rare ad plays).

A warning: If you download this game, it’s very possible that you will never remove it from your library. It’s a comforting puzzler with just enough complexity to keep you coming back year after year. It’s an incredible accomplishment by the game developers to have created a nearly perfect game. The only problem is that not enough people know about it!

Fantastic puzzle game, with minor flaws

This has quickly become my new favorite puzzle game on my phone. It's a nice new spin on the match and merge concept that's so popular. It's one of those games that's easy to start and difficult to master. Thankfully, there is a tutorial that teaches the basics, as well as a few advanced techniques that'll boost your score quickly.

There are a few quirks with the game that keep this from being perfect. Like everyone has said, the blue and green tiles look too similar, so some better contrast can fix that. One issue I ran into is the tower-clearing power up. It's a useful one, yes, but in the rare event that the board is filled up and the next item is that power up, it just ends the game without me being able to use it. If that can be modified in a future version, I'd greatly appreciate it.

But those are ultimately minor issues with an otherwise enjoyable game. And it's free to boot, so that's an instant plus. If you want something to keep you busy, try this out.