The concept of Block Factory is, at its base, really cool. Using some simple tools, you can build your own block-dropping puzzle game and share it with friends. Unfortunately, the execution of this game falls short of making the act of creating and playing compelling. After all, why make and play something like Tetris when you can just play Tetris?

Creating a game is easy enough to do, and you can choose from several different themes and block types. You can even set what types of blocks appear and how you can control them. Do you want the blocks to be rotated or swapped? Do you want gravity to bring hanging blocks down? The game does a good job of explaining the tools you have to make a puzzle game.

However, Block Factory has too little granularity and too many limitations. For example, in my efforts to recreate Dr. Mario, I wasn’t able to make dropped blocks fall down while the block next to it was cleared. The interface might be friendly, but it doesn’t offer enough customization to allow players to make clever games. I’d be shocked if someone makes something compelling using these tools.

Luckily, there are plenty of options for you to see if someone can do that. After you create a puzzle, you can set it as your StreetPass puzzle, and on the off chance you pass someone else with this game, you’ll share games. You can always use QR codes to get more game types as well.

Outside of the game creation and sharing aspects, this is a generic puzzle game. There’s no end goal, just high scores. Unless you fancy yourself a puzzle game designer, you’re better off playing puzzle games made and refined by professionals. Block Factory is a neat idea that is too ambitious for its own good.