The solo mode is very configurable, including not just options for number of opponents but the effect of gravity, number of goal flags, frequency of power-ups, etc. Unless I missed something, there was no match-up lounge for multiplayer games, which seems like the next critical step in the evolution of the game client. Why not just get some actual blocks? I tried multiplayer but the options seemed limited to LAN and typing in an actual IP address of a hosted game. Though the website has some interesting screenshots showing what fun you can have in the sandbox, I didn't really try it out. The game has a few play modes, including solo play, sandbox and multiplayer. It's a necessary skill for tossing the odd power-up, but in a pinch you can also throw an ordinary block of your own to try to knock over your opponent's pieces. You would do well to go through the brief tutorial, as there are camera controls and block manipulation controls mapped to all three mouse buttons.Īnd trust me: you must also learn how to 'throw' blocks. The next block in your queue is shown on your display tetris-style, though I never really found myself looking at it. You can only drop blocks in your current territory, and blocks dropped in overlapping territories are ejected from the map. There are numerous power-ups that you can also claim, some that directly attack your opponent's stacks of blocks (rockets, volcanoes) and others that actually affect the entire playing field itself (earthquake, a heavy anvil that tilts the arena).

Beginning in your 'corner' of a circular arena you must expand your territory by stacking blocks as high as possible, in an attempt to envelope the central white goal flag. Students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology have taken that basic structure and created a marvelous strategy game that involves not only stacking blocks but, in a stroke that some would call brilliant but I call mandatory, knocking your opponent's structures down.īontago is a Windows-only territory-grabbing, block-stacking, real-time strategy game (phew). Playing with blocks is a universal experience, being not only fun for all ages but also an essential tool in development.

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