This fall, Sega is bringing Brick People, based upon a hit arcade title of the same name, to Sega iOS for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches.
Players are tasked with feeding the eponymous Brick People by dragging and dropping bricks into the playing field, allowing them to hop and climb their way to presumably delicious fruit. They have 150 seconds to complete as many missions as possible. Upon completing each mission, players are challenged by the “Brick Monster,” who demands players to build specific structures in exchange for more precious seconds.
Brick People‘s single-player includes three difficulty modes: Sweet (Easy), Bitter (Medium), and Spicy (Hard). It uses the iOS’ multi-touch functionality to drag and drop blocks into position or move them once placed.
Brick People features multiplayer as well as single-player. Players can compete over Wi-Fi or play a split-screen game on the same device in the iPad version, trying to complete challenges before the other player can and gaining access to randomized powerups, such as bombs to destroy the other player’s blocks.
Brick People will be available over Sega iOS for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch version 4 or higher. It is Game Center compatible, and includes achievements and leaderboards to compare scores with friends and family.
Trauben’s Impressions
I’m not usually a mobile-game sort, so my impressions of this game are without a lot of room for comparison.
The model of Brick People I played is entertaining as a momentary diversion, but it’s not without some flaws. The titular people aren’t really very bright, so I often found myself waiting for them to take advantage of an obvious platform. That gave it a certain trial-and-error quality, which made the pattern-based requirements for some stages and multiplayer matches a bit frustrating- there’s no way to actually steer your people at all; they just mill about.
As a single-player platform I’ve my reservations about Brick People, though it’s certainly not bad. It has the same general feel as the WarioWare games – something to kill time while waiting for the bus, a mini-game rather than a full game. Its multiplayer offerings have a similar feel. It’s easy enough to carry on a conversation while conducting a match, which is a point in its favor for a casual title. But again, the randomized nature of the very primitive AI means that it’s hard to affect outcomes beyond giving your often-sluggish People ramps and scaffolding to surmount in their gluttonous quests.
End evaluation: Solid as a casual use of a few minutes’ time.