Full review of the match-3 style puzzle shooter Boxed In for PSVR, from Red Chain Games.
Boxed In, from Red Chain Games, is a match 3 game with a difference. This time rather than being an outside observer you’re in the room, even more so in the VR mode, faced with a wall of different coloured blocks quite literally closing in on you. If you’re familiar with 3D Tetris games like Welltris, then imagine that crossed with something like Puzzle Bobble and you’ll be on the right track.
For full disclosure, I was provided with a key for this game from the developer but all opinions are my own.
The game supports both flat screen and VR modes, but for this review I’m concentrating mainly on the VR mode. The flat screen mode is serviceable, but relies on DualShock controls, and personally I much preferred the extra degree of control offered by the Move/Aim controllers in VR, not to mention that the fear of being crushed by oncoming boxes in VR is much more impactful in the headset.
The two core gameplay modes are survival, an increasingly stressful race against a moving wall of blocks, or the more relaxed solitaire, which does away with the moving blocks, instead giving you static blocks that you can take your time over cleaning up. Solitaire mode can be quite relaxing and zen but for me survival mode is where it’s at. With both modes the basic premise is that you use your gun to either shoot blocks, which will change their colour to whichever colour is currently indicated by your gun’s laser beam, or create a new block in that colour and attach it to the side of an existing block. If you happen to get close enough you can also push blocks, allowing for some narrow escapes if you find yourself overwhelmed. There’s no real end-game as you’re essentially just playing for high scores, survival mode continues until a block touches the back wall, and solitaire mode continues until you’ve cleared all the blocks. If you remove blocks quickly and steadily then you’ll build up a multiplier which will rapidly increase your score, but hesitate too long and the multiplier will reset to zero.
There’s a wide selection of gameplay modifiers which give the game some added variety and all in all allow you to create 36 variations on the game in their various combinations. This includes the direction of gameplay, whether that’s the original wall of blocks coming toward you, or you standing on top of the blocks shooting downwards or standing below the blocks shooting upwards. You can select between match-3, in a line, or match-4, in a square. There are also modifiers for the number of colours ranging from 3 to 5, just to increase the difficulty.
Personally I prefered the original mode. The mode where you’re standing below the blocks looking upwards is particularly tiring in VR and you are going to get neckache after the first few minutes. It also relies on you having good camera placement so that you don’t lose tracking and to be honest it doesn’t add much to the basic formula. Looking down however adds the interesting gameplay element of having to consider where you’re standing, as you could fall lower at any moment along with the blocks you destroy.
The difficulty level in the survival mode is well balanced, with things starting off fairly easy but gradually ramping up until you slip up and find yourself frantically trying to stay in the game. Going into the game I was concerned it would either be too easy or set to be too artificially hard but I think it strikes the perfect balance. Something I’d love to see in the future would be some special blocks added into the mix, for example bomb blocks to wipe out entire rows, or perhaps speed up/slow down blocks to adjust the speed of the wall rather than the constant speed increase it currently relies on.
Available control methods are quite comprehensive and include DualShock, Move controllers and Aim controller. The game plays slightly differently with each method, with the Move and Aim controllers making things slightly smoother due to the more accurate aiming. It should be noted with the DS/Aim controller you can also jump, something you can’t do with the Moves. However, I usually found myself far too concentrated on shooting blocks to worry much about running around, only making the occasional move to be able to see the sides of close up blocks or to make last minute evasive manoeuvres.
Prior to release the developer has been listening to feedback and has already added in smooth turning and locomotion as an option, with click-turning and teleportation remaining as an alternative option for those who prefer it. Your preferred turning angles and speed can be set, and the controls can be swapped between left and right handed. All in all there are plenty of configuration options for you to tweak the game to your liking.
So that’s the gameplay covered, now what about the presentation. Ok, let’s get it out the way, Boxed In is not much of a looker, particularly in static screenshots. It would be very easy to dismiss this game based on first impressions if you were just casually browsing through a bunch of new releases. In the flesh however, although the graphics are still more function over form, they are enhanced with particle effects and reflections which give it a little more pizazz. Beat Saber already showed us that you can make cubes look sexy but Boxed In’s graphics settle for doing the job without being too distracting. Having said that, I’d quite like to see an option to choose between some alternative block colours, as that could offer something a bit easier on the eyes and could also help improve accessibility for people with colour-blindness.
The music, although minimal, also adds to the atmosphere and increasing pressure as the blocks come closing in on you. Although it’s more or less a repeating loop, I never found it so invasive that I was reaching for the mute button. Sound effects are also fairly sparse, with the sounds of your gun and the crumbling blocks, but again do the job just fine.
Most importantly, the game has that just-one-more-go factor in spades. In my experience it’s not unusual that I’ll hop in for a quick 10 minute go and then find myself still trying to crack those high scores an hour later. We all know that time passes quicker in VR but this game really encourages you to hit that retry button at the end of each round.
A mention should also be made that for the keen-eyed among you there are a variety of little hidden Easter eggs, so keep a look out for those. They’re all nice little touches that give the game that little bit of personality, but I won’t mention any specifics here to avoid spoilers.
For the modest asking price you can’t really go wrong and Boxed In is an easy recommendation. If you’ve got even the slightest interest in puzzle games of this nature you’ll definitely get your money’s worth from it and I would urge you to give it a go.
With global leaderboards for each of the different combinations of gameplay you can be chasing high-scores for a long time to come.
