Review NaN of 3
, from Phoenix
Price Paid:
$50.00
from Best Buy Summary:
I've been totally addicted to Zoocube on the GBA for nearly eight weeks now, so the other day, when I got my new Gamecube, I scarfed the GC version of it right away. I have not been dissapointed.
Zoocube is a unique puzzle game in that you are solving an actual three dimensional puzzle of the reflexive variety. This means that you have to think and strategize in true 3D, and be very quick about it as well, and for many people that is not something that comes naturally. It is very easy to learn the basics, especially once you understand that the manual isn't very clear on how to play. But the bottom line is, Zoocube is not a game for the easily frustrated or for dummies and can be truly thought of as a thinking man's puzzle game.
I've played Tetris since it first came out, and have enjoyed many other puzzle games going back many years. But for me, Zoocube tops them all. At first it is deceptively simple. Various shapes float in from three directions, one at a time (early on), and you rotate your cube to intercept them and match them with the same shapes already there. And for the first few levels, that same gameplay is repeated, though much faster. But it is only after you've put a few hours into the game, and have opened some of the more difficult levels, that you see just how tough Zoocube can be.
Although rotating the cube is simple enough, Zoocube has quite a bit of depth. The goal is to score enough points so as to open up more of the game, and there is quite a bit of complexity to master if you want to maximize your score, especially once you get past the initial levels.
Zoocube is built around a story, but in truth, the story does not really matter. In fact, for me, one of the few problems with Zoocube are the cutscenes related to the story, since they do not enhance gameplay. They are short, however, and are bearable.
Besides the obvious playmode of you against the CPU, there are two others including a two player cooperative mode in which you and a buddy try to beat the same cube via a split screen, and an up to four-player heads-up mode played on a quad-split screen. In this mode, you can send uncool pieces to your opponents that cause them grief.
Zoocube uses several weird metaphors for gameplay. You are the 'pilot' of your Zoocube, and your task is to take your craft across seven seas and oceans. When you start the game, only three of these seas are open to you. There are also variations on the standard model in which you have to deal with a pre-loaded cube and another in which the pieces are all gray.
Zoocube is very addictive and hard to master, and it keeps me coming back for more. At the very least, rent this game.
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