Cubes

Posted by Guest Reviewer Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:19:00 GMT

Cubes

[Guest Review by FishyBoy]

Cubes is an excellent online game. It can be summed up as a 3D version of the Tron lightcycles game. [Note: it’s essentially a multiplayer version of nenad’s Counterclockwise. -Derek]

You fly around, leaving a trail behind you. Hitting a trail kills you. You can move along any axis. You can also shoot at enemies, although it’s not too effective. Several power-ups are available, and you also have a boost. The world wraps around, so if you just keep going in a straight line, you’ll eventually crash. The default level is empty, although there are a few other levels with some trails already added. That’s about all of the game.

The game is simple, but it’s good fun zooming along colorful corridors, twisting about in a convoluted path and desperately hoping you don’t smash into a wall. When you first start playing it’s rather disorienting, but you get used to it pretty fast. The learning curve was only about 5 minutes for me, and in about 20 minutes I was doing pretty well. Rounds are done survival-style, and the field is pretty small, so games are fast-paced and short.

The game doesn’t have very complicated graphics, but the twisted multicolored architecture when you’re well into a round looks pretty cool. It doesn’t take a very fancy computer, either. My awful computer ran it nicely, with occasional frame rate drops.

The community is very friendly, helping out all the new and confused players. The menu mirrors the main game in simplicity, so it takes less than a minute to set your name and join a server. When there’re about 6-8 people in a room, it’s great fun, although it’s still pretty enjoyable with 2 people.

In short, it’s a fun and unique game, enjoyable on all accounts. I highly recommend it.

It would also probably be great for Game Night.

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Prototype 2

Posted by Derek Yu Mon, 01 Oct 2007 06:00:00 GMT

ProtoType 2

Prototype 2 is a gorgeous shoot ‘em up that takes its inspiration from Irem’s famous R-Type series of games. The game was created for the SHMUP-DEV 2007 competition, where the theme was “Options.” And yes, the pre-game options in P2 certainly are various, with the player being able to change the flavor of his or her ship, pods, and power-ups.

And like R-Type, Prototype 2’s most interesting mechanic is the Force Pod, which is a detachable “option” that can be used to clear out hard-to-reach spots. In P2, the Force Pod can also be detonated at any time to clear out the screen. Skill with this thing is crucial if you want to survive in this game, which is punishing even at the easiest difficulty (it is for me, anyway).

Conclusion: the great presentation, numerous options, and overall polish make this a pretty awesome package. GET IT.

(Source: the one, the only, the Tim)

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