Throughout 2008, the Playstation Network has been host to a multitude of must have titles, ranging from Pixel Junk Eden, to the impressive Riff: Everyday Shooter. The trend of great downloadable games looks to be continuing into 2009, as a slew of new games have made it to the store. Cuboid is one of these games and for $9.99 it’s one of the cheaper games of late, but does this mean it’s not as well made as other recent downloadable games such as Lumines Supernova?
But what is Cuboid exactly? From the name alone, you can guess that the game centres on the common polygonal shape, and this would be the right assumption to make, as the only control you have over anything in the game is the ability to move a Cuboid. The goal is to drop this shape down a hole in the stage, and while you can roll in any of the four available directions, the shape is twice as long as it is wide. This creates the puzzle aspect of the game, where each movement you make must be thought about in advance; otherwise you’ll fall off the stage.
There are gaps in the floor spread across each stage, meaning that this forward thinking is vital if you are going to complete the level. After a few early levels where your ability to think about things in this way is the only difficulty, the game begins to mix things up considerably with various types of switches, which have to be operated by a certain side of the shape, and special teleportation devices that split your shape into two cubes. This keeps the variety up at all times, and expands on the basic puzzle gameplay of the game. In short, you guide a Cuboid to the goal, trying to stay on the stage at all costs. It’s so simple on paper, but becomes much more complicated in practice.
After mere minutes of playing Cuboid though, these early troubles are lost forever, as you are suddenly absorbed into what is an amazing puzzle experience. Like the best in the genre, you begin to see the way that your Cuboid will have to be placed well ahead of time, working back from this to find the quickest route where you will perform the lowest amount of moves. It’s engrossing throughout every stage, which ends abruptly after only 2 hours. Once both the Beginner and Advanced modes have been completed, and all 60 levels have been cracked, that’s the game done. There aren’t any multiplayer options, or extra levels; once you’ve completed the game, it’s over. You can go back to any stage and try and complete it in the fastest time possible to earn some trophies, but in a game with set stages such as Cuboid, repeating it when you know the solution is never the same. Unlike puzzle games such as Tetris, and Lumines, Cuboid has very little replay value, needing a heavy dose of additional levels to reach the longevity of the aforementioned games. This isn’t an issue for the first few hours with the game, and for the price it’s tough to criticise a game for this reason alone.
Cuboid is a cheap downloadable game, and this is no more apparent than in the game’s presentation. The game looks nice enough in HD, with a strong visual style kept throughout, but the rest of the aesthetics are less impressive. There is a distinct lack of music, and sound effects throughout the game, the only audio coming through the speakers being the clank of your Cuboid every time you move it. This is disappointing, as music can become the best part of a puzzle game. The lack of distinctive changes in the design of each stage is also not up to par, as this makes the game feel more repetitive than it should, not living up to the quality of the gameplay. Overall, the presentation of the game keeps to this trend, not augmenting the amazing gameplay, but rather bringing the game down to the level of some weaker PSN titles.
That said, Cuboid is a near essential purchase on the Playstation Store, thanks to a few hours of amazing puzzle gameplay tied with and interesting concept. It may not have the longevity that Lumines Supernova does, or the aesthetics of Everyday Shooter, but it’s undeniably strong as a Puzzler. It can be easy to criticise Cuboid for all that it doesn’t do, but for the two hours it took to complete, it was a wholly engaging and enjoyable experience. For $10, it’s a steal.
Nometet.com says: 
+ Interesting concept for a puzzle game
+ Addictive while it lasts
+ $9.99 is a steal
- Is over far too quickly
- Not enough levels to give longevity
