Hands-on with spellbinding tower-building game 99 Bricks: Wizard Academy for iOS

What do you get when you cross Harry Potter with Tetris?

Probably not whatever you're thinking. You actually get a game called 99 Bricks: Wizard Academy. Obviously.

In this forthcoming iOS game, you swipe to position the blocks that you cast from the top, and you tap to rotate them. You need to stack them neatly in rows, if possible.

Despite 99 Bricks: Wizard Academy's obvious similarities to Tetris, your mission here is to BUILD towers with Tetrominos (rather than clear rows of them). That proves very difficult when Mr Physics is in play, however.

If three or more bricks topple over, the height of your tower at its peak will be recorded and coins will be added to your purse.

Luckily, every time you reach a new Level, your blocks below will be frozen in position. That's only helpful if you managed to build a flat base for the next Level, mind.

Making things harder for you, jealous wizards are casting spells all over the shop. So, you may have to suddenly place some huge blocks, slippy blocks, or just have to deal with birds flying in the way.

You have some spells of your own up your sleeve, though. You can zap badly placed blocks so they don't fall below the screen, for instance. You can also create platforms in mid-air to help support your tower.

You can spend the coins you earn on new spells, outfits, and wands. You can also buy new buildings with different roofs, or buy buildings without a chimney (so it doesn't get in the way).

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So far during this hands-on session, I've felt compelled to re-play 99 Bricks: Wizard Academy over and over in much the same way I felt compelled to re-play Knightmare Tower.

The urge to skilfully play on and unlock items for use next time you play is irresistible. Throw in those humorous characters and colourful visuals, and you have one very tidy package.

Oh, and if you were curious, there are lots of IAPs here. None of which you actually need. You can fork out for buildings and outfits if you wish to, though.

99 Bricks: Wizard Academy will be available for free on iOS. We're not sure exactly when it will surface on the App Store, but it shouldn't be long now.