ZooCube Review

Developer	PuzzleKings
Publisher	Acclaim
Genre	Puzzle

All the animals on the planet have been transformed into cubes by the evil experiments of Dr. Buc Ooze. It is up to the crew of the modern day Ark to rescue these animals, all in pairs. After two animals are joined together, they are freed from their cubistic prisons. Times are perilous and it is imperative that all the animals are rescued before the dreaded Dr. Ooze returns to finish his diabolical doings.

ZooCube is the brainchild of Nalin Sharma, who created it in hopes of people saying “I’ve never seen this before!” Innovation abounds in this game, from its extensive single player modes, to its multiplayer options and tons of unlockable features. ZooCube is one of those games that can be picked up in thirty seconds, but will take weeks to master. As in most puzzle games, ZooCube’s concept is simple, but will grab and retain the players’ attention for hours.

The best way to describe Zoocube’s gameplay is to take Baku Baku! for the Saturn, add the style of Tetrisphere, and then make it “cubistically correct.” In order to free the animals, the cube-shaped creatures must be placed in pairs around your six-sided ZooCube, which is basically a probe sent to the levels to attract animals. Each animal has distinguishing colors and markings which makes it fairly easy to tell the animals apart. Once an animal has been placed on one side of the ZooCube, it will stick to that side of the cube until paired or the level ends. The animals “line up” along the sides of the cube, and each string may be juggled to reposition the line. The faces of the cubes may also be rotated to catch the animals in a more advantageous string. This game is very hard to describe and the only way to fully understand such an anomaly is to play it.

To mix things up, there are numerous power-ups throughout the game which are essentially “released” from within each animal. Once the animal has been attached to the cube, the power-up contained within will float around the cube above the piece it was released from. You must gather this power-up by touching it with another animal, but each power-up will only remain for a short time. Some power ups are merely worth points, while others release bombs or cube enhancers. If it is one of the latter, the new special piece will drop toward the cube. Bombs come in four varieties: bombs that blow up pieces toward the cube, bombs that blow up pieces away from the cube, bombs which do both, and bombs that circle the cube and blow up incoming pieces. Each bomb will also have a strength; this will indicate how many pieces it will impact by displaying more than one bomb picture. Cube enhancers on the other hand must be placed adjacent to the cube and be absorbed into the cube. These will increase drop speed, rotation speed, and juggle speed.

The game takes the player through the Earth’s different seas. Within each level, the progression through seas indicates the players’ advancement through the game. There are three different levels in ZooCube: silver, gold, and platinum. After completing the silver level, gold unlocks, and so on. In the silver level, the player is slowly introduced to new ideas so that they will not be overwhelmed. At first, the pieces fall slowly from only three directions. As the game progresses, it becomes a fast paced frenzy with six pieces falling all at once from every direction that the cube faces. One facet of ZooCube that had great potential, but came up short, was that it allowed up to four people to experience the game at once. Players may play cooperatively or can battle each other. Unfortunately, due the game’s dependence on a cube structure, each player’s screen must be a perfect square. When playing in two player mode, half of the screen goes to waste showing a border instead of being used to display the game. This results in very tiny screens that can make the animals difficult to distinguish from one another.

ZooCube makes use of a good portion of the GameCube’s controller. The strings of animals can be rotated both inwards and outwards to allow for fast alternating of animals. The analog and c-stick rotate the cube in differing directions, which becomes essential as the game progresses and is an admittedly wonderful feature, albeit difficult to master. Overall, the button layout is very intuitive and feels well thought out.

The graphics in ZooCube are nothing groundbreaking, but they fulfill their purpose. The animals are easy to distinguish in the single player game and only size restraints prevent the multiplayer game from doing the same. When reaching a new sea, the change in backgrounds is enough to feel that something has been accomplished, but they do not disrupt the flow of gameplay. They also do not distract the player while trying to pull off a difficult maneuver.

While the menu music may be very repetitive, the music for each sea fits the game well. After entering the sea for the twentieth time, it is still not enough to cause hair rippage. While it may not be as memorable as other game music, it does add ambience to the levels and is appropriate for a puzzle game.

Overall Value - Overall, this game tries hard to be worth its hefty $50 price tag. It is difficult for most puzzle games to overcome this hurdle, and while it put up a valiant effort, this game may have greater success with a discount. ZooCube offers many hours of gameplay, and includes a large list of unlockable features, which is a welcome change for a puzzle game. There are also four slightly different ways to play for those who need a change of pace. The game can be played in normal mode or may begin with pieces on the cube that the player must remove. Also, both modes have the option to remove piece color, which adds a lot of difficulty. This will ensure that as long as one wishes to play, ZooCube can keep up. Fans of the genre will want to pick this innovative game up, but ZooCube will not have any added draw for those who are not predisposed to play puzzle games.

Review by Katy Wickman