Cube Hot

PSP puzzle games are a real catch-22.  On one hand you have a genre perfectly suited to pick up and go gameplay, but on the other hand, with it comes an enormous amount of competition.  Puzzlers have saturated the PSP library, second only to sports games in terms of individual titles.  Today, a remarkably distinctive experience is just as important as the depth of the gameplay behind it.  The much touted Gunpey was fresh but ultimately fizzled with critics, where as Crush came out of nowhere and was instantly adored by the PSP community.  It's a fine line, one that Cube no doubt aspires to correctly walk.  We've seen countless shifting block games, but few with an added third dimension.  For a game that involves no stacking, how does it stack up?

Cube Minus Bert

The basics aren't too hard to grasp.  You take control of a three dimensional box and are charged with the task of guiding it along a series of paths that range from linear to wide open spaces.  You can move the cube up, down, left, or right with complete freedom.  There are no edges and the end of the path doesn't mean the end of the level.  Spill over the side and your cube sticks as the screen rotates, instantly adding another dimension to the gameplay.  Your main goal is to reach an assigned block, usually at the other end of the level.  Time is a factor, thus a counter in the upper right corner displays a ticking clock.  Gold, silver, and bronze metals are distributed based on how quickly you've completed the course. 

Figuring out the most efficient way to navigate through the course is augmented by a remarkable assembly of obstacles.  Scattered throughout the course, their main function is to activate a couple neurons in your noggin.  First and foremost are the key icons, which exist solely for your collection pleasure.  Random objects of peril also populate the levels, such as bombs or dangerous, cube crushing blocks.  A variety of other powerups and gadgets exist, such as telporters, bomb direction changers, and elevators, each tailored for a specific purpose.  Mostly all of these external factors work in harmony with one another; the path to your goal may not always be clear, but the tools you need to get there are always right in front of you.

Gleaming the Cube

The dynamics of cube necessitate a camera system that should be as flawless as humanely possible.  Metia Interactive certainly tried to accomplish this, but the final product came up painfully below average.  When the level opens you're provided with a complete overview of the course.  Every obstacle, powerup, and path is right before your eyes.  Additionally, the L and R buttons can be used to rotate the course at 90 degree angles at any time.  This aspect almost comes through, but the odd speed (slow at first, fast in the middle, and then slow again) at which they rotate coupled with the confusing change in perspective makes for an awkward experience.  The worst offender, by far, is the analogue nub, which is intended to provide the player with 360 degrees of visibility.  For some reason you can't actually move your cube after looking around with the nub; the camera has to reset itself before it allows your cube to progress.  I suppose the analogue camera is meant for you to observe your surroundings before making your next move, but why they didn't couple precision camera control to moving the cube around is a mystery to me.

The consistent trial and error formula is another aspect of Cube that is pushes it into love/hate territory.  Most of the easier levels can be blown through in a matter of seconds, but as the game presses on the challenge ramps up and the levels turn into a complex myriad of puzzles.  It's unlikely you'll ever make it through on your first try, instead opting for a constant series of seeing what works and what doesn't.  The possibility of screwing yourself over, such as misplacing a sticky arrow or sending a bomb into your cube, is high, but offset by an instant restart via the pause menu (or your destruction).  What's annoying is the game has to go through a ten to fifteen second loading period every time you do this.  I needed to restart some of the later levels ten or so times, and the long loading times, along with always having to repeat portions of the course I had already "solved", nearly killed the fun I was having.

The futuristic theme runs through the entire game as ever-present polygon dominates the scenery. Indeed, our heroic cube moves on other cubes and is contained within a giant cube.  While this doesn't particularly look to be taxing the PSP's cpu, there is still a noticeable amount of slowdown every time the camera has to follow one of your shifts.  It doesn't really interfere with the gameplay, but it constant bother throughout the entire experience.  While the stages are all competently designed, they aren't exactly eye candy.  Powerups and bombs are generic looking and do little to distinguish themselves from the ever changing (yet always monochromatic) backgrounds.  The backing music is an ambient mix of sub sonic electronica, best classified as Wipeout-Lite.  The beats are there to move you through the level, but they could just as easily lull you into a coma.  Other sound effects, such as the small "plop" whenever you move your cube, are right on key. 

Emptying the Cube

Boasting 135 unique levels, there's an awful lot of Cube to go around.  These are divided over different easy, medium, and hard sets, along with a handful thrown in for the tutorial levels.  While that is a good number of levels, perfectionists might get more bang for their buck in Cube.  Those who think it's less satisfying to perfect every level rather than simply run through them will get the least mileage.  Still, a feeling of sameness starts creeping up midway through the medium levels.  There are a lot of tricks in Cube's bag, but not enough to stretch it.  Also worth mentioning is the included demo of Puzzle Quest.  It's a rather short sample of an awesome game, but definitely a nice freebie.

A much appreciated addition to Cube's package comes in the form of a level editor.  While the tools are initially unwieldy, those who stick with it will be rewarded with god-like level designing powers.  After dropping in a series amount of time, you can churn out your own brain busting, handheld throwing torture mechanism.  It's possible to save the created levels to your stick and let trade them with your friends, but they don't appear to be (read: it wasn't in the manual and I couldn't figure out how) to involve these levels in multiplayer.  Yup, that's right Cube not only supports game-sharing for its levels, but also provides a wealth of multiplayer modes.  Players can battle it out with bombs and other hazards, race each other to the finish, tag team to make it through a stage, and compete to collect the most items.  Most of these modes work well, but the loading times and camera problems are unfortunately right along with them.