Video Game Reviews: Q.U.B.E.
The short version: Q.U.B.E. (that stands for Quick Understanding of Block Extrusion) is short, sweet, and pretty satisfying as puzzle games go. And...it's not much else, really.
The long version: This is very much a puzzle game, something to tax the brain. The gameplay mechanics are a little tricky to explain, since I haven't really come across anything that can be drawn up as comparison (which means that this game gets bonus points for originality). Basically, you are put into a blank white-tiled room which has certain fixed features that you can manipulate with your weird glowing gloves. Red tiles can be popped out ("extruded," so to speak), yellow tiles can be made into staircase-like patterns, certain sections of walls can be rotated, that sort of thing.
To it's credit, the game manages to do many different things with this fairly limited tool set. In one section, you might be popping out blocks to jump across a gap to the next area. In another, you have to spin around a set of light refractors to direct coloured lasers to hit a target. In yet another, you have to shove around blocks and walls to direct cubes and spheres. It's clever, it's inventive, and it's satisfying to solve.
But for all it's strengths, Q.U.B.E. is something of a throwaway experience, something you won't really feel inclined to play more than once. It's not very long as games go - I finished it in just under 4 hours in total - and once you've solved all the puzzles, that's pretty much it. Plus, there's no real narrative to speak of.
Which feels strange, because it often feels like there's the bones of a story. Your silent and unknown character wakes up in a mysterious sterile white-tiled environment, learns to use the strange and wonderful tool given to him/her, and navigates in a linear pathway through puzzle chambers of increasing difficulty. There's a vague, sinister sense that you are being controlled and shepherded towards an unknown fate. But little ever comes of it. It's very difficult to ignore the similarities to the wildly popular Portal games.
All the trappings I just mentioned are there. People who have played Portal will know exactly what I'm talking about. People who haven't can just ignore this paragraph. But the difference is that Portal had a brilliant, captivating story behind it, while Q.U.B.E. just doesn't.
The short short version: Pretty good at what it does, but Portal does it better and is up for the same price on Steam. Get Portal.
Final score: 8/10
