Q.U.B.E.

So yeah we here at Entertainment Cocktail haven’t been on top form in recent times, lack of posts, less reviews but thats because we are waiting, waiting to 2012 to really start in the world of gaming, but in the mean time we got to play some interesting indie games, and one of which is from British newcomers Toxic Games with their game Q.U.B.E which is short for Quick Understanding of Block Extrustion.

Releasing on Steam earlier this month but originally launched on several other direct download websites at the end of 2011, Q.U.B.E has since gone on to be quite successful. As the first game released by Indie Fund, a charity that pays for Indie Developers to finish and release a full game and has since managed to recoup back all $90,000 spent on the games production just four days after the release of Q.U.B.E on Steam.

Now, we waited for the games release on Steam, our provider of choice when it comes to PC gaming. And what is our initial thoughts of the new game from the new development. Well I bloody loved it!

On first look many of you will think that Q.U.B.E is very Portal-ly in look and design considering the game is a first person puzzle game which is exactly what Portal is, the difference is in the game play, puzzles and story. So to start with, let me start with the story of Q.U.B.E. The first opening moments of the game you find yourself groggy as you find yourself moving down through a very white and clean cubed room that looks like you are contained inside of a mental asylum. Proceeding to get up to find a mysterious futuristic glove on your hand you find yourself as a mute protagonist in the game and from their the game begins with you staring down a clean padded corridor with the sole purpose of heading down the corridor and onto the first puzzle along the way you get to listen to a sometimes a groovy, calming and melodic soundtrack that follows you throughout the game as you.

The early begins of the game lead the player into the earliest and the first puzzles in the game, the sole purpose of these levels are not to test your puzzle solving ability, but to teach the player how the game works without the help of a voice over telling the player what to do at each different coloured cube. Before I go on, you may think, no voice? Then what is the story? Well there isn’t a story to be told you are a mute, unknown protagonist who wakes up inside a strange facility with the sole purpose of pushing ahead and solving one puzzle after another, and with that in mind that is all you need to think about, the next puzzle. I found myself progessing through Q.U.B.E’s early levels quite quickly because I got to play the game back in its early stages when it was still a university project so I already knew the mechanics of the game, but what kept me going was the sense of discovery, what was next, what was the next puzzle that I had to solve and at times playing the game later than I should to find that I was doing the Skyrim thing of “just one more mission” the drive keeps you going, keeps you wanting to progress more through the game, through each individual level.

Now how about gameplay? How do those coloured cubes work? What do they feel like? Well how about your hands! Unlike games other puzzle solvers that I have played (yeah you can guess easily which there are not that many games like this) you use the characters hands to move and extrude each coloured cube thanks to that fantastic glove on your hand. Now each cube has a different purpose and colour, Red cubes are simple cubes that your extrude in or out of the wall by pressing left mouse to extrude out or right click to extrude back, these are the first cubes you encounter. Blue cubes are bouncy, you make them flat then walk over it to fling you into the air. Yellow cubes act as a stair mechanism consisting of three cubes that add together, and depending on which cube you intend to protrude depends which Q.U.B.E will be the biggest. Purple cubes rotate the room and anything luminous green move freely, you cannot control them only manipulate them using other cubes in the game.

This all may sound very confusing but as I have said the first levels are there to help you understand how the game works and what you are supposed to do, so don’t feel overwhelmed by the way we have described the game to you.  As for the puzzles themselves, well they are from another world and some are bloody difficult. The early levels are easy, they are meant be, but as you progress, a steady difficulty curve follows you to the point that i found myself RAGING at random points in the game as I struggled to progress through the level, but that RAGE doesn’t push you away, it keeps you coming back for more, because the relief you get from finally beating the puzzle cannot be replicated until you encounter the same problem again at another puzzle but you know what you do, you persevere and just keep going.

Overall Q.U.B.E was one of the best indie games I have played, it was intriguing, immersive and endearing, the soundtrack played along nicely through the games progression and the controlls are spot on with little or no problems when playing. And the presentation of the game is something to admire, with the look of a pure white and clean science lab or asylum you can truely see the amount of work that has been put into Q.U.B.E from developers Toxic Games and for the £11.99 price tag you will not be disappointed, especially if you are fans of games like Q.U.B.E and how long the game lasts will definitely depend on your own skill in the game.