Back in the crisp late 00s this, Papa's, Bloons and Run were primeo flash games that took schools harder than crack in suburban households in the 70s
Its not an exaggeration to say that this and a handful of others are part of an unsung generation of video games that I like to call the Neo era of simplistic level based games, a foundation of flash games that stuck it out like canned goods in a nuclear fallout, a fracasing fray of flash... bitch

Bloxorz is one of the best puzzle flash games ever made, the aesthetic of it is tride and true and reflects how intricately crafted it is. The red void that's just barely dim enough to not be eyepiercingly blood but rather a hued scarlet that gives off strain and anguish... climax and pivotal sixth sense.. enough sharp fumes to make a god's forehead look like a searing charcoal grill.. AND OH HOW GOD WRITHES!!!!!!!!!!!
its aight

Since Flash is being discontinued in a few days from now, I thought that it'd be a fun little sendoff to go through and play a bunch of these classics that I'm sure quite a few people have nostalgia of playing during class time. I decided to start things off with as far as I remember, one of the first of these flash games that I've played. Bloxorz is a simple little puzzle game with a simple goal and nothing more, the challenge primarily coming from figuring out how to position the block as you move it around.

The issue with this game definitely lies in its simplicity however, and not necessarily in the mechanics as much as the lack of interesting ways they're used, as most of these end up being utilised extremely well to centre around the core mechanic of moving the block via rotation. The issue comes from the fact that most of the time, figuring out what to do with these mechanics, particularly the switches you activate by moving over them, are just implemented in a boring, flawed way. The major flaw comes from the fact that you have no idea what exactly these switches will do until you press them, leading to trial and error being absolutely required, which isn't conducive to being able to plan anything ahead and can often lead to you making a mistake and getting rid of a necessary platform. This is further worsened by the fact that there's no way to undo a single move, with falling off leading to having to start the level from the very beginning, which quickly grows repetitive, especially once more moves are required on the later, more difficult levels.

I also feel like it becomes quickly apparent that most of the difficulty in this comes from trying to put the block in finnicky positions rather than trying to figure out the general path to success in a level, which can lead to a lot of time spent messing about semi-randomly moving around to just possibly get it right, without ever feeling as if you learn anything. All this said, despite my complaints, for a flash game it's not outright awful, with a fairly solid backbone that only really feels underutilised due to some lackluster level design. Check it out if you're a fan of these sorts of very simplistic, short puzzle games, but just don't expect anything amazing out of it either.