Republished on Wednesday, twenty second June, 2022: We’re bringing this assessment again from the archives following the Clever Qube’s inclusion in All PS Plus Video games. The unique textual content follows.
Initially printed on Monday, third December, 2018: You run round on a floating platform in the course of a void, swallowing cubes into the bottom one-by-one as they menacingly roll in direction of you. Each time you survive one wave, a disembodied, booming voice shouts “PERFECT!” earlier than extra cubes are despatched your means. The method goes on for what looks as if perpetually till the cubes ultimately overwhelm you, sending you falling right into a neverending darkness as the bottom beneath you offers means.
Welcome to enjoyable PS1 puzzler Clever Qube, in any other case referred to as Kurushi in Europe!
It actually feels extra like a horror recreation than a puzzle recreation, however that’s what makes G-Artists’ magnum opus so fascinating. The essential textures, the authoritative announcer, and composer Takayuki Hattori’s creepy soundtrack are already all fairly unnerving, and when combined with IQ’s demanding gameplay it’s a marvel that the sport is definitely satisfying. However it’s. In reality, it’s infectiously enjoyable.
Designed by Tokyo College of the Arts professor Masahiko Sato, IQ’s gameplay is fairly easy. Waves of blocks roll in direction of you, so you must activate then deactivate the sq. beneath them to seize them earlier than they roll over you or go over the sting of the platform. Capturing a inexperienced block means that you can set a “lure” that can seize all blocks in a 3×3 sq. as soon as activated, whereas capturing a black block is punished by eradicating a row from the stage.
For those who can clear all of the blocks earlier than they go over the sting, one other line shall be added to the platform, supplying you with extra time to clear the subsequent wave in addition to supplying you with a rating bonus on the finish of the extent. If extra cubes fall off the stage than the quantity specified on the block counter (the width of the stage minus one) then you definately’ll lose a row of the stage. Lose sufficient rows and ultimately you’ll fall off the stage, ending the sport.
It might not sound it when defined on paper, however Clever Qube’s gameplay may be very easy – and that’s what makes it enjoyable. Though later phases complicate issues by making the whole lot greater and forcing you to depend on the inexperienced dice traps in an effort to beat the waves, finally the sport’s core mechanics by no means change as a result of they by no means have to. The design is improbable from the start.
After all, being a PS1 recreation, Clever Qube is harsh. There’s no saving between ranges, so if you wish to full the sport with out beginning over, you’ll need to play your complete set of ranges in a single go. This solely takes about two hours, however that’s offering that you simply end each degree first-time, one thing that’s just about assured to not occur.
And even in the event you do end the marketing campaign, there’s no actual recognition or reward of your achievement apart from your individual satisfaction. Positive, you could be given a brand new character to make use of, however there’s by no means actually a definitive finish to Clever Qube. Whether or not you win or lose, everybody will get the identical consequence: a complete rating and an IQ score suggesting how environment friendly you had been at capturing cubes. There’s no celebration of your accomplishments, only a suggestion that it’s attainable to do higher. That’s what retains roping you in.
That’s the attraction of Clever Qube. It’s chilly and calculated. The gameplay continually revolves round numbers, not simply when it comes to scoring however even when you’re taking part in it. Are you able to afford to let that quantity of cubes roll over the sting with out costing an important row? It’s all about making fast calculations in your head, as a result of in the event you throw warning to the wind you’ll most likely find yourself dropping.
Once more, on paper this doesn’t sound nice or enjoyable in any respect, however while you play it the whole lot one way or the other comes collectively. The PS1’s greatest titles had been usually its most experimental and obscure, and that solely turned extra true when an arts professor and the composer of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla got here collectively to create Clever Qube.
Conclusion
Clever Qube is a really, very distinctive PS1 puzzler. Phrases do not do its unnerving type or relentless gameplay justice, which might be why it focuses a lot on numbers. There was nothing else prefer it earlier than, and there hasn’t been very similar to it since. Play it.