Woodoku - Wood Block Puzzles Reviews

by MrsHappyPants

I love this game and the different challenges. I love that it isn’t timed so you can strategize before placing the tile options. What I can’t stand is that there an ad after EVERY SINGLE GAME!! Once you’ve achieved the lower levels in the “Journey” the games in the upper levels can easily be over in just a few moves (not completed, but the game is over because you have to space for the remaining tiles). So you play less than a minute, then there’s an ad. Play 30 seconds, there’s another ad. Want to try again? Oh boy, there’s another ad, often the same one you’ve seen a dozen times in the past half hour. Now for the really frustrating part: every third or fourth ad crashes the game, requiring me to reload it. Within a week, I loaded the game more than 100 times. I finally deleted it and I wish there was a version I could buy to replace it. Free games are worth what they cost- absolutely nothing. As a bonus, you get a load of aggravation for no additional charge.

by Mefyo

This game is very addictive but also very frustrating! I have never seen a game this impossible to finish levels in. I can spend literally hours and days trying to beat a level and it is literally impossible. As much as I play, I still have never been able to finish a weekly challenge. The first few levels are easy but by the time you get about half way through, they get nearly impossible to beat. I am a very competitive person and it infuriates me that I can’t finish- EVER. The other thing that is horribly frustrating is how the stupid ads lock up the game. I have the data turned off so the ads don’t come on when I am out of my house but as soon as I connect to my WiFi they are back again. Some might say it is my phone, but it does do that for any other game I play. Right now I am trying unsuccessfully to finish the challenge for the week and am super frustrated, so it is getting a one star. I would give it a zero if I could!

by Stratford11228

This game is ridiculous. 1) After being barraged with advertisements for this game, while playing a different game, I finally succumbed and downloaded. The game isn’t at all like the advertisement. The ad literally shows a different block puzzle game. I decided to play anyway. 2) Of course, the goal of these games is to get you to watch ads and download more games, hopefully spending money too. For game designers, balancing play time versus forcing you to watch ads, is the challenge. In this regard, this game fails miserably. They control the length of each game (of course), by deciding which puzzle pieces you get. All games are designed to have you lose at some point and watch an ad, but this game is way too aggressive at having you lose. You can’t play for long enough for it to really be fun. It’d be like watching a tv show that showed commercials every two minutes instead of every seven. Pass.

by Csmoferret

There is a consistant lack of smaller pieces provided the longer you play, as other reviewers have stated. It means you have to replay Journey games over and over and over to finally complete them.

Furthermore, the number of ad screens has increased from 2 to as many as 11 or 12 since you have to touch the super tiny ‘x’ to get back to the game. The difficult button means you switch back and forth between the ad and the download screen over and over and over until you hit the ‘x’ just right. Far too many interruptions for this game to be fun.

Also, there is no way to silence the ads unless you turn the sound off on your phone. You can silence the game sounds in Woodoku but not the ads. That means no playing in bed, at work, or in public (ie. waiting in line or in s waiting room) without turning all media and phone sounds completely off. This causes all sorts of problems when opening the game and forgetting to toggle all phone sounds, alarms, audiobooks, etc off before starting to play.

And there are not enough days allowed to finish the journey activity. 5 days to get through 45 levels, each of which have ten or more ad pages after each fail and between levels.

All in all, the game is fun even though the parts dropping in to be played are far from random and the ads take up so much time and are
splittingly loud. Exceptionally fristrating.

by Noahzarc1

Will admit I enjoy playing it, but after about 4-5 rounds, the frustration of only getting 3 blocks at a time and not see what is coming next always kills a great game and eventually you’ll need to just close it and move on. This game never allows you to calculate risk when setting the third of the 3 delivered blocks. You can set areas of the board up and the game can progress and progress and you never get delivered the piece to clear cornered or areas you have prepped. It’s almost as if the game traps you in to keep trying to clear one section of the board. Decided to write this review after the last game just closed down. I had the upper left corner and basically left side of the board prepped for any number of pieces and went through multiple rounds and the game would not even deliver me a single block or double block. I highly doubt the pieces are delivered randomly. No block games being developed will ever match original Tetris.

by Godessasia

This game is super fun and simple. I play it when I just need something casual. I like that there are now more levels in the events since those are the only games I really play. However, the games are not fair. If the pieces were random, you’d occasionally get a single block or a double block throughout the game. You only get those early on when you hardly need them and are stuck with the hardest shapes as the game progresses. I am currently stuck on level 81 of the current event. I’ve played it at least 60-70 times (maybe more!) and I’m now thoroughly convinced the level is nearly unbeatable. You either have to get super lucky or be clairvoyant and know what blocks you’re going to get next. What’s the point of a game that’s set up to make you fail???? Woodoku should be 4 stars (1 star deduction for ads and not being able to remove them), but I’m giving it 2 because it’s purposefully impossible the play.

by Mommabme

This game is great to play and is one of my favorites, but there are major downfalls…….
1) WAY TOO MANY ADS! There is no need for an ad after every single time you play! Some of the ads are difficult to tap out of, and I’m so sick of repetitive ads! The developers of the gam obviously don’t care what players say because I have seen this complaint repetitively and nothing has changed.
2) some levels in the challenges CAN NOT BE BEATEN!!! I’m all for a good challenge, but when you play the same level for 3 days straight on a challenge that lasts only a week…..the fun gets sucked right out of playing!!! This is another common complaint that I’ve seen in reviews that the developers don’t seem to care about!!

To the game creators: Start paying attention to what these reviews are saying or you are going to quickly lose players!!!!!!

by Kmk78701

This is a terrific game concept. It makes you think in different ways than some of the other block puzzles, and it is both creative and fun.

That being said, the advertisements truly detract from the game. Not only is this one of those games that makes you go through a process of dismissing the same old ads for the same old online games, but mine often reverts into some empty ad mode where I have to click an X on an empty ad screen because Woodoku thinks it’s time to load an advertisement for me at random times, and there isn’t one coming from their advertisers server, or wherever those ads come from.

It’s gotten to the point where the game is no longer fun and I simply have to delete it. Don’t waste your time until the people making money off this put in a little effort to make sure the game is actually enjoyable rather than just a money maker for them.

by NimbleHen

I love this game. I have enjoyed the increasing difficulty. I don’t mind having to replay games over and over again in the journey that is new every week. I never get to the end of a journey, but it is a great relaxing game.

Two things have changed in the last few months:
The developers increased the daily challenge from 10 diamonds to 14. That means it’s no longer a quick “sit with my coffee and enjoy the game” before I begin my day. I routinely have to play it to several times. The other change, and this may be a dealbreaker for me, was that I paid a nominal fee to be ad free. Not only does that option no longer exist anywhere I can find it, I know have ads all the time. It’s not about the money, but it is. I paid for an ad free game that no longer exists. Very, very disconcerting.

by Rays Magic Girl

While I love playing this game, there’s 2 issues I hate so I probably will delete it if I don’t get a response to this review. First, I keep having a Mazda ad dropping onto my screen only in the middle of a move. I don’t drive so I don’t know why I would get ANY car ads! Second this is the only app I have out of 168 apps that I have on my IPhone that overheats my phone through the case so hot that I can’t hold my phone and I have to stop playing and put it in my freezer for several minutes to cool down so I can continue playing! That’s ridiculous! And it’ll ruin my phone that I have only had for 8 months! I am not even done paying for it yet! So why do I have these issues? My provider is T-Mobile and they suggested a Network reset, which I did more than once to no avail.
Sincerely,
Tammy Johnson

by Vu-tang

The game has a very annoying tendency to give you pieces you can’t use, so you lose, not because of skills, but because the piece selection is flawed. Of course, some of the strategy involves planning ahead for the odd piece that may not fit, but sometimes the pieces are so random you can’t do anything with them no matter how skilled you are. I made it to an upper level that I tried too many times to count and finally gave up. I was simply never enough pieces to succeed.

I tried to buy out if the advertisements, but there is no place in app to do that apparently.

Woodoku endlessly crashes during the advertisements. I’ve had to download and delete repeatedly. As others have noted, once you go so far, you never get the shapes you need, no matter how good you are at strategizing. Seems like it’s just a set up to get you to watch advertisements.

by Elicomeyer

I have no complaints about the difficulty of this game. I think the graphics are good and the puzzles themselves are pretty well done. I do, however, dislike how the game actually works. Or not! The sensitivity of the graphics is not good at all. I have to tap repeatedly on the screen to get the game to acknowledge the piece I want to move. Once I start to move the piece to complete a pattern, it very often stops working, and the piece goes flying into a completely different location! The game crashes multiple times per use. The ads are disgusting, and never for anything I am even slightly interested in EVER purchasing and are a complete waste of time. I’ve tried the updates and they never fix these bugs! Good game, but the bugs are a bigger frustration than the game is relaxing!

by Coke Zer0

So I keep seeing this ad that appears to be a puzzle that looks like a lightning bolt and it’s for this game from what I can tell because it has the same name however I can find nothing in this game or another one of similar names that looks like a lightning bolt shape there is another game that does do shapes but I can’t find anything related to Harry Potter which is what this was insinuating it was about so I’m curious if this game is supposed to have that type of puzzle in it or is something weird going on with ads. The game itself is fairly challenging fairly interesting it’s one of those that you can get lost in which is nice what I don’t quite care for is there’s no way to undo or change your decision which seems odd because you get three pieces right and then you can start to you can place them but you have no option to once you place one if that screws up the puzzle from being able to move forward cleans itself what I don’t quite care for is there’s no way to undo or change the placement of the pieces once placed. This seems odd given you are presented with 3 pieces at a time. Anyhow I enjoy the game. Devs should complain to Apple about ads shown. If your games are rated for children they should not allow violent, questionable morals regarding objectifying women etc.

by Bari Man

Thus is a good game, but I REFUSE to give it five stars because, in SPITE of what the developer says, it lets you have a little succes, thenit makes SURE to give you block combinations that are usually the OPPOSITE of what you need, or always entirely too large to fit in the remaining open squares! I managed to score 3000 pts early in my playing, and since then, it usually waits til I’m right at about 1000 points and it strikes—first giving THREE hard combinations to fit, making your board impossible to work with, and THEN toying with you and giving you block combinations that are either the WRONG mirror of what you need, or that are always just ONE block off what will fit!! They SAY it’s “random,” but when it happens time after time I have a really hard time believing......VERY FRUSTRATED!!!!

by Jewel72283

I really do love this game! It can be frustrating at times but totally satisfying when your pieces align correctly. I’ve been playing this game on and off for a year or so, and there’s one thing I can’t wrap my head around: what is the purpose of the gem collection and the journeys? I think it would be really cool if you could trade your earned gems or journey awards for a specific block during a game…you know a shape of your choosing. And I understand that diminishes the challenge a little and takes away from the “randomness”, but it would really increase each player’s personal satisfaction. Let’s be honest here, those are what others reviews have reported being the most frustrating and annoying…

It seems like the biggest complain from other players is the ads. Is there a paid version that you can buy or subscribe to that turns those off?

Also, I’d like to see how I rate with other players. It shows you your personal scores, but I’m curious what other people’s high scores are. My best score 1787, but is that a low score in the grand scheme of the game or a high score?

Anyway, I still love the game and will keep playing it regardless!

by Classof65

This is an addictive app. I have different versions. I like the brain challenge, but it is so annoying when the game freezes for 5-10 seconds and I can not move any of the pieces. Often I have to restart the game. I’ve tried closing and reloading, doing a forced shutdown of the iPad, but nothing helps. What causes it to freeze when it’s time to move a piece? Also, the number and frequency of ads is so annoying! And some games like Brains n Balls don’t have a “silent” button, and so can’t play this in bed or anywhere while waiting! Why not offer a paid version w/out ads? Let us buy it once, not a monthly charge. Also, I HATE all the FAT ads! They are not true and there is no pill that can create those results. PLEASE eliminate these ads!

by Dbjgdhhfxvhincd135

It’s a very addicting game, but also frustrating. I agree with the last reviewer totally. As the game progresses, it refuses to give you even one shape you need to keep going. It boxes you in. As the game progresses and the space gets tight, it never gives you the small shapes you need to clear an area to keep going. I can always tell when I’m screwed. Once I get to about 700 points it starts giving me the opposite of what I need and starts giving me 4 or 5 block diagonal shapes etc. I have never started a fresh game and been given a diagonal shape. If it were truly random I assume I’d get a variety of shapes throughout the game.
I also notice anytime I need an L shape or a single block deep into the game I never get those. It’ll give me a backwards L that I can’t use over and over. If you play it enough you’ll notice right away.

by Renee6681

I LOVE this game. My husband and I both play it every day. There are constantly new puzzles and we compete to see who can get farther at on the Weekly Journeys. I just have one problem, ADS. There are so many, one after every single try. If I lose in 3 moves I have to watch an ad to play again. If I play for a full minute, I spend at least a quarter of it if not half watching ads. Of course I got a message today saying I need to allow the game to track me. Right now, the game won’t open, because I have all my tracking turned off. I would be willing to pay for the game, I love it that much, but the ads are driving me crazy. Even if it does allow me to play again, I’m afraid I will end up deleting it because of the amount of ads.

by Kelidf53

I waited to write my review becauSe I wanted to see where the game went. I’ve had it for over a months and I play it daily for at least a few minutes. After 30 days I feel it’s earned staying power. So you have the main challenge where you beat your own score and I play that daily for a few minutes to see if I’m getting better. Then I play the daily level to keep my progress going. And I’m addicted to the adventures. I will play for hours to try and beat the entire adventure and then a new one comes out a week later and I’ve got to play that whole game too. It’s so fun and it makes my mind think outside the box. Love this game!!!

by Hetddgyvdhjdwfx

I really like this game. Some levels are much trickier than others. The daily puzzle is fun, and I enjoy the journey. The ads do get to me. If I fail a level, and see what I will do next time, I have to wait for an ad. I absolutely understand that because of the ads, the game is absolutely free. I also appreciate that there are not a ton of in-app purchases (one reason I chose this game!). My question is, is there a version that you can purchase ad free? I would actually consider that! Or perhaps one with less ads.
I will still enjoy this game, just curious about an ad free version. Thanks!

by Glendolph

Yes, that describes me. If you can relate, do not get this game for more than three days.
It will quickly capture your attention then almost as quickly frustrate you to wanting to play another game to better your score.
Day one, about 10 games in, I scored 1084.

Days 2 &3, the closest I got to that was about 750 a couple times.

I know realize that early in the games you will receive a few 2&3 block pieces. Then after that, those are provided VERY rarely and never when needed most, when the board is nearly filled in. By this time, there will be many small 1, 2, & 3 piece pockets that need filling. IF you get a small piece, 9/10 times it will be facing the wrong direction which makes it either useless or another piece required to be placed where you want/need to keep it open. It’s a scam to hook you, then keep you playing by manipulating our minds’ inherent desire to always want to do just a bit better.

So enjoy it for a few short days. Then when you find it takes 50 games to beat your previous high score, realize the scammers have rigged their randomizer to manipulate you into trying just one more time.

by Shelly Griska

I love the game itself, but there is no way to effectively mute the sound on all the ads. I prefer to play games with the sound off and to listen simultaneously to podcasts. However, even with the Setting for Sound turned off, some ads automatically play sound, and when they do they hijack the Bluetooth audio through which I am listening to podcasts. So, I have to manually mute the ad, then go open the podcast app and hit Play again. It’s really, really annoying. Sound Off should mean sound totally off, not off until one of about half the ads rolls around and decides otherwise, and shuts down what you actually want to listen to, too!

by Sunsmile140

Love the game, not sure what the times and levels lead up to. I’m just playing for fun and to help unwind at night before bed. Perfect game for that or to multitask when I don’t feel like engaging fully in conversations around me I can “look busy” but chime in if I have something to say. Otherwise I’m ignored.
I also enjoy the similarities to Tetris. I have a small child so games with timers don’t work for me. This one works perfect as I can pause a game and come back hours later and pick up where I left off!
Definitely recommend if easy, laid back, chill game is what you’re looking for!