Get ready to think... or die.
Intelligent Qube is an odd entity from G-Artists and Sony Computer Entertainment, one that is both masterful and underappreciated. I can gush about this game all day, so here are my brief thoughts after finally accomplishing a full playthrough.
I.Q. is a puzzle game, wherein the player scores points by capturing blocks...while trying to survive in the process. There are several variables at play throughout the game but, most importantly, I.Q. focuses on avoiding being crushed by a set of randomly-assorted cubes rolling towards you each round, moving in clockwork while also trying to push you off the stage itself. You perfectly capture a set of normal cubes during a round? You're granted an extra row/tick on the stage. But what if you accidentally capture a forbidden cube, or even let some cubes fall off the stage? Well, that row on the stage falls apart.
It didn't take too long for me to fully grasp certain strategies, especially using advantage cubes as ways to look ahead and capture normal cubes without hitting any forbidden ones, which just shows how incredible this game is by its own design. Alongside all of that, I.Q. invokes several emotions through its ominous sound design, hypnotic-looking stages (with a tiny character to scale against the cubes), and an orchestral soundtrack that you absolutely wouldn't expect from a game of this nature. It all just works as a byproduct of early Sony Computer Entertainment; the dark and mysterious wonder of polygonal art that rose in the late 90s.
Intelligent Qube deserves to be high up there with other notable puzzle games like Tetris and Panel De Pon, one that shows its quality in both production and replayability. It's brilliant, haunting, and has really never been replicated after more than 20 years now. So please, for the love of god, go experience this piece of work for yourself. One of SCE's finest from their first home console.
And of course, in the words of the game's ecstatic announcer: "Perfect!"
Intelligent Qube is an odd entity from G-Artists and Sony Computer Entertainment, one that is both masterful and underappreciated. I can gush about this game all day, so here are my brief thoughts after finally accomplishing a full playthrough.
I.Q. is a puzzle game, wherein the player scores points by capturing blocks...while trying to survive in the process. There are several variables at play throughout the game but, most importantly, I.Q. focuses on avoiding being crushed by a set of randomly-assorted cubes rolling towards you each round, moving in clockwork while also trying to push you off the stage itself. You perfectly capture a set of normal cubes during a round? You're granted an extra row/tick on the stage. But what if you accidentally capture a forbidden cube, or even let some cubes fall off the stage? Well, that row on the stage falls apart.
It didn't take too long for me to fully grasp certain strategies, especially using advantage cubes as ways to look ahead and capture normal cubes without hitting any forbidden ones, which just shows how incredible this game is by its own design. Alongside all of that, I.Q. invokes several emotions through its ominous sound design, hypnotic-looking stages (with a tiny character to scale against the cubes), and an orchestral soundtrack that you absolutely wouldn't expect from a game of this nature. It all just works as a byproduct of early Sony Computer Entertainment; the dark and mysterious wonder of polygonal art that rose in the late 90s.
Intelligent Qube deserves to be high up there with other notable puzzle games like Tetris and Panel De Pon, one that shows its quality in both production and replayability. It's brilliant, haunting, and has really never been replicated after more than 20 years now. So please, for the love of god, go experience this piece of work for yourself. One of SCE's finest from their first home console.
And of course, in the words of the game's ecstatic announcer: "Perfect!"