As its name suggests, Rubik’s Puzzle World is based on the licensed Rubik’s Cube toy line, and as such the game is centred around solving cube-based puzzles. There’s no major story involved, players simply enter a world that’s full of cubed-shaped creatures called Cubies. When you first visit their home, the Cubies are shy and hide away, leaving a dull looking landscape. By playing games with the Cubies though, you’ll slowly gain their trust and their world will brighten up with colour. The generic plot clearly isn’t designed to hold your interest, it’s just there to set the mood and make the title a little more appealing to children.
While at first glance the game looks simplistic, its actually got a lot more going for it. Initially you’ll only have access to one game mode, but after successfully completing a few puzzles more will become available. To name a few, there’s a Boom Blox-like Deconstruct mode where you have to knock Cubies off of a structure, View mode where you have to build a structure that looks different at specific angles, and Fit mode where you have to fit Cubies through holes in a wall. In total there are six gameplay modes to unlock, and each one features at least 40 puzzles, so there is quite a lot to keep you amused. Another great thing is the varied pacing of the game. Some puzzles are focused on speed and have a timer that depletes, while others let you tackle situations at your own leisure. It’s just nice to have that balance there to provide a wholesome experience.
Feel the love with Create mode.
Rubik’s Puzzle World’s greatest weakness is it doesn’t have a specific target audience, which means some puzzles will be more appealing than others. One of the more generic modes is Switch. Here, your goal is to make combinations of five or more Cubies of the same colour to clear the playing field. While it’s functional, it just isn’t imaginative and feels stale. In contrast, Guide is more brain teasing. Your objective is to guide Cubies to same-coloured exit points by placing directional signs on the playing grid. In addition, you also have to consider the path of other Cubies and ensure they don’t collide. It really comes down to your personal likings – you might prefer quick and simple puzzles or prefer to take your time with complex situations. Either way, there will likely be a few modes you’ll grow weary of in a short period, which is a shame since it severely reduces the game’s lifespan.
To compliment the main game, the developers have also included a few customisation modes dubbed Create and Compose. Create is based around building objects, while Compose features a simple, yet pleasant, music editor where you can create your own tracks. Generally, players will be given an objective such as create a tree or a song that makes them happy, and once they’re finished it is placed at the Mode Select screen or, in the case of music, replaces the default soundtrack entirely. While the options aren’t fleshed out as much as they could have been, it’s a nice afterthought that will please the creative at heart.
Despite all the content included in the package, Rubik’s Puzzle World falls a little short in its presentation. The graphics clearly don’t push the Wii to its limits, and to be quite frank there’s probably only a dozen or so colours that are used throughout the entire game. Given the nature of puzzle games though, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s just a shame the developer didn’t add any extra flair to make it stand out. The music isn’t catchy either. The tunes are all happy and suitably toned, but the same tracks are repeated constantly (unless you’re a fan of Compose mode) which will likely lead you to turning down the volume.
Sadly, these were the only screenshots we could find.
Overall, Rubik’s Puzzle World is by no means a bad game, it just lacks refinement and extra flair to make it stand out on the shelves. There’s an impressive range of different puzzle modes, though at the same time their quality varies from good to being a little familiar to other games. On the presentation front, the visuals aren’t exactly eye catching either, while the music can also get repetitive. Despite these flaws, Rubik’s Puzzle World is a quirky little puzzler, and should definitely be given a shot if you consider yourself a puzzle fanatic.
Loading...
