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Art Style KUBOS
More minimalist puzzling fun from Skip as the DSiWare gets the latest in the Art Style series, the inventive KUBOS.
Written by Chris Schilling, 03 July 2009
A faintly nightmarish conceit from Skip, this - Art Style KUBOS sees a scary scenario where a man tries to clamber to the top of a building, which is falling apart from the top AND bottom. It might only be ten floors to the top, but with fatigue and bombs threatening him at every turn, it's a fraught time for our plucky hero. Just as well that when he makes it, he has the chance to run himself a nice bath, or jump into a massage chair to buzz away the aches in his muscles.
Another idiosyncratic puzzler in the Art Style franchise - fast becoming one of the most interesting projects Nintendo is involved with these days - KUBOS is frantic even at its most ponderous. Your avatar moves painfully slowly - though it's precisely this speed that gives the game its tension. As shadows descend showing where the blocks are going to fall next, you just have to stay out of their way, making sure to deactivate - or stay away from - the black blocks which explode, taking away many of the surrounding cubes.
Coloured blocks refill your energy bar, which depletes over time, particularly when you're pushing blocks out of the way, or into holes to create lines of blocks to walk over if you've ambitions for more than just survival. High scores are the name of the game, and you need to create as many lines of five as possible to increase your score multiplier - though that gets trickier as the blocks fall faster and in ever more awkward patterns.
The relaxing 'breaks' you get are a pleasant reward for your endeavours, and while the infinite floor mode seems a little too hard for its own good (showing your pathetic progress against a picture of the Eiffel Tower - we've barely reached the part where the feet stop) you'll likely return to the perilous thrills of the ten-floor game. As your avatar jumps and pumps the air with both fists upon reaching the roof, you'll feel like doing exactly the same.
