#338 Intelligent Qube

Posted: 3rd September 2020 by Jeroen in Games
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895th played so far

Genre: Puzzle
Platform: Playstation 1
Year of Release: 1997
Developer: G-Artists
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Intelligent Qube feels like it fits in with a number of these puzzle games with simpler graphics, using the system’s 3D capabilities but using the abstraction to not need complicated graphics. Devil Dice comes to mind as a similar game, as well as the Nintendo 64’s semi-tech demo Wetrix.ย  It looks like this comes in in the same mold – which isn’t the worst idea, as I at least got some entertainment out of those games for a while.

Our Thoughts

One thing Intelligent Qube carries over is how streamlined the game is. The graphics are about the same as on the box, translucent cubes on which a small character moves around as you control them. A couple of blocks roll towards you and it’s your duty to destroy them by laying down ‘mines’ and triggering them as the blocks go over them. There are some different cubes – one that place a bigger ‘mine’ and another that shouldn’t be destroyed. Any blocks that fall off the edge instead of being destroyed (except for the ones that aren’t allowed to be) add up to shorten the stage, both amping up the pressure as you need to destroy the blocks faster and giving you less room to move around before the blocks kill you. Being rolled on by a block kills you and lets the current set go to the end – making everything worse.

As you can tell, this creates a stressful game, where failure induces more failure and you are rushing around to figure out what to do as you die. Both the time limit and the blocks moving at a somewhat erratic pace (or in a way that I haven’t quite figured out yet) don’t help. It’s frustrating, but it’s also some extra pressure that helps the puzzles stay more interesting.

Final Thoughts

I don’t know whether I can take playing this game for too long at a time, at least at the moment, but there’s something that works in its simplicity. It’s worth a visit, but like the other puzzles, maybe not something that’ll sustain you for that much longer.