Cubikolor Review

Published by Moving Player, Cubikolor is a cognitive game, where you take a cube with different colours on each face, like a Rubix cube, and you have to traverse across a map, matching the colours to the tiles, to activate switches. A difficult game to explain, but that is the general gist of it. If you match the right colour, you move up a level, but match the wrong one and you sink down. You need to do both of these, and well, to open an exit and move on to the next puzzle.

You may be thinking that a puzzle game such as Cubikolor is unwelcome on the PS4, it seems out of place compared to the intricate, well designed AAA games we are getting nowadays. But hey, puzzle games have always been welcomed on the handheld consoles, and considering how popular they were on the PS1, there’s no reason they cannot make a comeback. Whilst I highly doubt they will ever be as popular now as they were on the PS1, (remember Devil Dice, Kula World and I.Q: Intelligent Qube, anyone?) a couple of great puzzle games on the PS4 will not do anyone any harm.

Cubikolor attempts to take the reigns on the puzzle comeback, but the shoes are too large to fill. Saying that though, this is a good game, good enough that it could be cited as the game that showed PS4 developers that people would not hesitate to purchase/play a puzzle game on the PS4. But maybe I’m not being precise enough, there are puzzle games on PS4 already, and, as the recent Resident Evil demo has shown, people love to lap them up. But Cubikolor takes us back, to when puzzle games were simpler, not in terms of how challenging the puzzle was, but how much information is being presented to us on the screen. Cubikolor is simply about a cube and its colour, and how you can use it.

There are 150 levels and two game modes: Classik and Hardkore. Cubikolor has a clean design, all sharp edges and nice colours. With your mind focused on just completing the puzzle, you may think it will not be difficult to make your way through the game, but as soon as you start taking the timer in to consideration and get hit with that time out multiple times on one puzzle, the challenge really starts to set in.

The first puzzles are very ‘steady as you go’, as long as you do not do anything wild, you can just merrily go along your way, completing the puzzle by trial and error. But if you start trying to waltz your way through the later puzzles, you will struggle to make it out. A little bit of planning never hurt anybody, so I recommend sitting yourself down in front of the TV and muttering tactics to yourself for the first ten seconds, maybe using your finger to help visualise what to do, before you cock it up seconds after you start moving. If you mess up, you can at least feel like you did something (ripping your hair out does not count).

At its highest, this game is entertaining and at its lowest, this game is frustrating. That is what video games are about, and Cubikolor does it well. A fine soundtrack, interesting game style and fun levels, while the price may be a bit too high considering all you are doing is moving a block around, this game will keep you interested long enough that it is worth its price. But hey, if it sounds appealing, but you have not got the funds, I recommend waiting for a sale.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.