Cubicity LadiesGamers

Cubicity Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Cubicity
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure, Study, Other
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam)
Developer | Publisher: Pirate Parrot | OverGamez
Age Rating: US E | EU 3
Price: USD $6.00 | UK £5.00 | EU € 5,99
Release Date: July 25th, 2020

Review code used with many thanks to OverGamez

Are you looking for a simple and lighthearted puzzle game to pass the time? Filled with charming cube-shaped animals and squared scenery, Cubicity awaits. 

Purely Puzzles

There is no grand scheme to this game, no overarching plot that you’re moving forward; it’s just you, some animals, and some targets. The goal of each level is to get the animals to their labeled square on the map. This can either be a walk in the park or a head-scratching mystery. As there’s no plot or story to the game you can focus entirely on the puzzle at hand, and it’s very easy to pick up and put down whenever. However, it also means that you’re not given much motivation to progress. If you’re the type who needs a story to move through in a game, you won’t find one in Cubicity. 

Cubicity LadiesGamers
The game starts out extremely easy as you get used to the controls.

Geometric Graphics

The graphics are, as the name of the game suggests, very cubic. The animals and the maps are made entirely of square shapes. While this is quite charming for the levels themselves, the animals’ cubic makeovers seem to have… varying levels of success. 

Cubicity LadiesGamers
While the rabbit and the fox on the left fit the cube shape quite well, the turtle is… a bit of a stretch.

The music of this game is calm and cheery, but extremely repetitive. If you’re just hopping on for one level, you may not notice, but if you sit to play through ten at a time, it begins to feel like elevator music. There are also some odd sound effects when you unlock new animals. If they bother you, though, you can turn off music and sound effects in settings. 

Simple Controls

Cubicity‘s controls are fairly simple. At the beginning of the game, all you need to know is how to select animals and how to move them. You use the left stick to pick which animal you want to move on this turn, use A to select them, and then continue using the left stick to move them. To change back to the animal selection, you press B. You can’t use the touchscreen for this game. 

When you beat levels, you earn coins and stars. The coins can be used to unlock more animals in the Characters menu, accessible by pressing X while on the level selection screen. Animals come with different abilities that can make certain levels less difficult. For example, the piggy gives you an additional 5 coins at the end of a level, the turtle grants you an additional move, and the owl will fly over two holes in the ground. While you don’t need to buy the animals, as they’re unlocked over time by beating levels, the only other use for the coins seems to be buying accessories for them until People are unlocked. 

Cubicity LadiesGamers
On this level, you can use a Bomb, an Ice Block, the Undo button, and the elevator.

As the game progresses, you unlock some new mechanics. For example, some levels (like the one pictured above) have elevators on the map. After moving your animal onto the lowered elevator, you have to move back to character selection and select the elevator’s button to move it up or down. Most other added mechanics will be accessible through the bonus abilities menu, which can be accessed with the X button while in a level. These allow you to do things like undo a movement, place a frozen block to keep your animal from moving too far, or place a bomb to knock your animal over one square. These abilities and mechanics are added every five levels or so to freshen up the gameplay as you move forward. 

Conclusion

Even with added mechanics, the gameplay gets stale before long. The repetitive task of moving characters from point A to point B could only sustain my interest for so long. However, I feel that this game is just the right amount of complicated for a little kid. The puzzles change bit by bit as you move along, and the bright, cheery colors and animal companions could suit a younger audience. That said, I feel I could only recommend Cubicity if it was for a child, as the gameplay is repetitive and lacks the depth of a story.

Final Verdict: I’m not sure

Cubicity LadiesGamers

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