Cubicity Switch Review

There’s nothing like a puzzle game on a handheld, so here’s a Cubicity Switch review to give you some pointers whether it’s any good or not.

Puzzle games don’t always get the fanfare they sometimes deserve. They come in a variety of appearances; small ones, big ones, some as big as your head. Wait, I’m thinking of coconuts. 

Anyways, simple puzzle games sometimes overcomplicate their design with quirky graphics or gimmicks to stand out. In contrast, others can get away with zen-like simplicity – titles such as SEN Seven Eight Nine come to mind.

Cubicity is a gentle balance of cute graphics and a simple concept, but through execution can be pretty darn challenging that you have to look into those big, bold eyes of your cube-like animals (forget the humans) to chill you out.

Cubicity Switch Review

Alright, so it’s not the most strenuous of puzzle games, depending on your mood, but it’s not a complete walk in the park either. Or a trajectory over multiple tiles to get to a marker.

Your mission is simple: guide your team of cubes across a series of maps, ensuring that they finish on their designated spot within a certain amount of moves.

Each cube can be moved independently of one another and in multiple directions, but not diagonally. A cursor appears over each cube and then pressing the A button selects them to change it to an avatar of someone running.

Your cube will keep moving until they reach an obstacle such as a wall, other character or fall to their death down a gap. While this can be the challenge, using the environment and your team to your advantage allows you to complete the mission.

Cubicity, from Overgamez and Pirate Parrot, is an Angry Birds-like format, you’re awarded a total of three stars per stage based on the number of moves you perform – the lower, the better. Additionally, you can collect coins from each successful run, allowing for the purchase of more goodies.

First and foremost are the number of cute animals on offer. Pick from lions to pandas, each with an ability that you can use to your benefit. Get extra moves, the ability to fill holes on the fly and win extra coins. 

As mentioned earlier, you can unlock humans, but they’re ugly.

More Sides To A Cube

The placement of cubes can be random, so you might find you start with a horse, chicken and a dog, restart the stage, and there are three different animals. 

Appearances aren’t everything, but Cubicity is a nice looking game. On a larger screen, the cubes can look a little pixelated when in the shop, but when it comes to actual gameplay, they’re a mixture of cuteness and lush greens and blues, with dynamic lighting.

My only real major complaint with the game is the controls. It’s not the fact that the game doesn’t have touchscreen support – I mostly play in handheld mode, and it didn’t bother me. It was the selection of characters and inadvertently committing to a move in error.

To pick an available cube, you move the left stick to choose, and the A button to switch to movement. If you want to stop them from moving, you have to press the A button once more.

I often found myself forgetting to deselect the cube, move the cursor to another player but in reality; the existing character would move to my detriment.

There’s an undo option available which seemed infinite when I tried it, but even though you can correct your errors, it’s frustrating to have to keep going back due to a silly mistake that’s easily done.

Don’t Be A Square

Cubicity is an easy to pick up title that most people should be able to get a kick out of – more so if a fan of the puzzle genre. 

The presentation certainly helps it forward with the colour palette and cute characters, but as can be expected in puzzle games, it’s pretty much void of any narrative. But you don’t need it.

Bear in mind that this is a solo-player game with no features other than the primary campaign with repeat plays to earn more coin/improve on your rating if not already at three stars.

If there were a two-player mode such as split-screen battle or similar, this could have added a lot more longevity to the game, but alas, it’s only the campaign on offer with a shop to unlock new characters and skins. 

The Cubicity game came out relatively under the radar, so it wasn’t on my desk long enough to build up any expectations; therefore, I can say that it was a pleasant experience overall.

The controls did somewhat let it down where you have to deselect a character each time. You could argue that you just need to be mindful when playing the game, plus there’s an undo option, but… I don’t know. 

I would have preferred a cursor onscreen or even better, a touchscreen option. But I’m just being picky.

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