Cubis by Astraware, Price:
$14.95
Reviewed December 2003 by Tony Peak
Cubis ended up being a much harder game
to review than I first expected. While graphically pleasing
and featuring alluring enough gameplay, I'm not quite sure
it meets its full potential. Although I had fun with Cubis
every time I started it up, I feel it could have been more
than it is.
Cubis is played by sliding cubes across
the playing board from the left or bottom of the field into
the preset cubes. When cubes connect in groups of 3 or more
of the same color, they're removed. Winning depends on the
which of the game's two play modes your in. Arcade requires
the player to remove a certain amount of cubes before the
time limit is reached, while puzzle only requires the player
to remove the star cubes in time. Both use the same set of
50 levels.
Making things a little more interesting
is a set of special cubes. Preset stone cubes which can't
be moved, laser cubes which can destroy any cube, and cracked
cubes which if hit crumble. Cubes also form on the Z axis
up to three spaces high with wedge cubes which can push a
stack up, and osmosis cubes which changes the color of the
cube it hits and then duplicates into a clone above it.
The trouble with both modes is that there
is no continue, level select, or lives of any sort. You start
at level 1 every time you play, and play until you lose by
running out of time. This can get quite frustrating after
you've played the first 20 levels or so again and again trying
to get to the later levels in the set of 50. If you lose
on level 39, it's right back to level 1 next time around.
There is a practice mode which lets you level select, but
it only lets you only play one level at a time, and with
no timer.
Arcade mode suffers from a goal that seems
to have nothing to do with the level at hand. Even if you
clear the entire field, the round doesn't end. You still
have to send cubes onto the field and clear them until you
reach the goal number. And on the other hand, even if you
don't clear the cubes on the field at all, you can still
win by just sending small groups onto the field and clearing
them. Puzzle mode has a similar flaw where as many times
I lost the round simply because I kept getting cubes that
had nothing to do with the star cube colors; So many so that
I'd run out of time before I'd even get the correct cube
to use.
The controls are rather simple, but well
suited. You simply hold down the stylus and a white outline
will show where the cube will slide. Release to slide. It's
a bit annoying when you accidentally release a cube, but
it works well none the less.
The graphics are quite smooth and everything
is nice and colorful. I really like the three graphics themes:
Mayan, Leonardo, and Chinese. Each has a real nice appeal
to it and looks exceptionally well done. I would have liked
the styles to change in game as checkpoints in progress however,
instead of being a manual theme choice. It seems like a waste
of perfectly good graphics to make two of them completely
optional. Sound wise there's nothing to complain about. The
cubes click together, crack, morph, and etc pretty much as
you would expect. The music is appealing but nothing exciting.
Overall Cubis is an appealing game and
a fun way to spend some time, but that's about it. If you're
looking for a serious goal, or challenge, or even reward
you probably won't find it here. If, however, you're just
looking to spend some time with an amusing and not too overly
strenuous puzzle game then this is a good fit. |
