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Preview  Zoocube (GCN)
- By Dan Doll [Editor In Chief]
Update: 5/24/2002
At E3, we got to go hands on with, and finally solve the mystery of, Zoocube.
To make things even cooler, I personally had the opportunity to play cooperatively with the game's designer, Nalin Sharma of Puzzle Kings.
Zoocube comes with a learning curve of only a few minutes, but as Sharma displayed, a lot of skill can be developed to control the cube quickly and really master the game.
The story line is hokey, but it does the job of giving the game a purpose, something rarely found in puzzle games.
An evil boss has captured the world's animals and enclosed them on his spaceship in various, multi-colored and shaped blocks. The only way to save them is to use the Zoocubes that have fallen from his spaceship around the globe to pair up the animal pieces, freeing the animals inside.
During the game, pieces drop to each of the six sides of the cube, starting slowly with one at a time. Players can lock in pieces to a side of the cube with A, or keep rotating the cube with either joystick to pick the best side before it gets there.
Players score by pairing up blocks or balancing the same number of pieces on each side of the cube.
As the stack on any given side grows, it becomes important to juggle the pieces with B, rotating them so pieces from inside the stack can reach the top and be paired with any incoming.
At times, any one of 36 power-ups (one for each animal type in the game, 36 animals total; 24 available at the start) can be earned by running through them with incoming pieces. These powerups can increase the cube's mobility, gravity, or simply bomb away pieces from high stacks.
Speaking of bombs, there are three smart bombs to use during play, each one elimating a piece from all six sides of the cube.
Play continues and gets more frantic until one side has more than five blocks stacked on. Just before this happens, the stack will turn gray as a warning, and any further blocks that don't pair off will end the game.
As mentioned before, Sharma and I were playing the game's multiplayer mode. For up to four players, Zoocube allows players to play competitively, or cooperatively.
Competitive play is standard puzzle fare, but a cooperative mode is unique to Zoocube. Two players play side by side, trying to earn the highest team score possible.
Players sometimes get pieces meant for the other player and can send them over by juggling those unique pieces to the central cube.
Zoocube is a refreshing game for the puzzle genre, and this cooperative play only exemplifies that.
Our thanks to the game's designer, Nalin Sharma for taking the time to be with us. Zoocube is due in stores by month's end.
Zoocube is Acclaim's upcoming 3D puzzle game for the Nintendo Gamecube. So far, details are sketchy, but here's the official release:
ZooCube is a new, advanced puzzle game filled with fast-paced, reflex action. Simple to learn, but tricky to master, ZooCube brings frantic, heart-racing action to the Nintendo GameCube(tm) and Game Boy® Advance.
Think outside the cube and put your puzzle-solving skills to the test. ZooCube takes puzzlers to a new level . . . the third dimension.
Game Features:
- The only 3D puzzle game available on the GameCube(tm).
- Addictive, engaging, intoxicating, heart-racing puzzle action.
- Intense 3D puzzle action - No two puzzles are the same!
- Special power-ups, bonuses and mind-bending three-axis rotation.
- Play cooperatively with a friend or in head-to-head battle.
- 12 different modes with over 100 hours of gameplay.
- 2 player linking available on Game Boy® Advance.
Take a look at the screenshots and see if you can get an idea of what Zoocube will be like.
- 5.24.2002 |
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