Life's not easy for a cube. You're not the most aerodynamic shape, you can't exactly roll or squeeze through tight spaces. But you'd never guess it from the jovial little polygon at the center of Qubed: New Adventures. Your little avatar is always grinning... assuming you can avoid the spikes that it is. This physics platform game has you controlling the little square dude with the [WASD] or [arrow] keys to maneuver through all 20 levels of swimming, box-pushing, switch switching, and star-collecting. You can also split into smaller cubes with the [spacebar] which can be controlled individually, allowing for a little puzzle gameplay to work its way into the mix.
Qubed feels a bit clunky in spots, though not necessarily in a bad way. Your little guy is a square after all, so sometimes he lands a bit weird on the longer jumps, meaning you have to take your time and get ready to react. He does move a bit slow, it should be said, which is unfortunate because the levels you can explore are surprisingly expansive for this kind of game. There are inaccessible platforms and areas that exist only for eye candy to try to flesh out the physical world. This makes everything feel big, even more so when your cube man begins the level in two separate chunks, making you control both of them individually to guide them back together. You might find yourself hitting that restart key more than once, sometimes the order of level pulls and button presses is very specific with mistakes that can't be unmade. But that's all part of the fun at the end of the day. Your little cube man sure doesn't seem to mind. Take it slow and careful and you'll find plenty to love in Qubed: New Adventures, a platform game with big dreams, fun puzzles, and bright smiles.
A little too clunky for my taste. It might benefit from using a different button for switching little guys and split/merging. Also, I apparently can't merge them back together when one is on top of the other - they have to be next to each other. At one point it wouldn't let me switch, I think it thought I was trying to merge and the space wasn't big enough, so I had to restart because I couldn't move. A cute game otherwise, though I personally got bored after a couple levels. Interesting concept, just not my style I guess.
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