Anode

Genre: Falling Block Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Anode is a falling block Puzzle game where players create a connected chain of like-colored blocks, and then detonate it using a like-colored “detonator” piece to clear them. Occasionally you’ll also come across “coupler” pieces that allow you to connect one color chain to another.

In practice, this works out to be… a bit confusing, actually. Don’t get me wrong, there are some interesting ideas at work here, but when actually sitting down to play it, the game just doesn’t feel naturally intuitive like you’d want a puzzle game like this to be.

There are multiple reasons for this – the way that blocks don’t break apart when you drop them until after you make a match with them, cluttering up the field and making it harder to line them up… the way that couplers need to be aligned with each other just right in order to work… none of this quite works in a way that flows well, and the gameplay suffers as a result. That’s not to say that this is a bad game, just that its problems keep it from being a particularly good one.

There’s nothing in the presentation that really pushes this game, either. The game has a clean, modern look, but it’s also completely lacking in personality and utterly forgettable.

In the end, Anode isn’t a bad game, and it actually has some decent ideas for the genre, but those ideas aren’t very well-implemented, and the result is a game that works okay, but isn’t especially fun to play.

tl;dr – Anode is a Puzzle Game where you connect electrically-linked colored blocks to a similarly-colored detonator. This game has some interesting ideas for the genre, but they don’t work in a way that’s particularly intuitive or fun. This game is okay, but only the biggest fans of the genre will likely find this to be worthwhile.

Grade: C

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