ZooCube | Nintendo GameCube
What Dr. Buc Ooze has done to pigs is just a crime. Tsk, tsk.
Mad scientist Dr. Buc Ooze's shape-altering experiments have transformed heretofore cute animals into freaks of modern science. In the first 3D puzzler for the Nintendo GameCube, you travel the world with ZooCube, a high-tech device designed specifically to change Ooze's freaks back into their natural forms.
Puzzling in 3D
When playing this brain-bender, the six-sided ZooCube rests in space at the center of the screen. As shapes float toward the ZooCube, it is up to you to rotate the ZooCube to match identical objects. If matched correctly, objects will disappear, keeping the height of your stacks down.
Like all good puzzle games, a deceptively simple concept challenges you to think in new ways. As colorful animals drift inward, you will use all six sides of the ZooCube by constantly rotating it up, down and around. You can also cycle through the objects already attached by pressing the X and Y buttons.
As you clear groups of animals you will uncover special items such as coins, ice cream, and jelly beans. Gathering these items will amass bonus points and rack up high scores. There are even power-ups like bombs that will explode stacked shapes that they come into contact with. Other power-ups will make your ZooCube rotate faster or fire bullets outward.
Graphics
The graphics in ZooCube are colorful and lively. Each of the more than 35 animals is first represented by an abstract shape. For example, a beaver is shown as a brown orb with buck-teeth and a pig is a pink cube with a snout on all six sides. Once an animal is matched correctly, it gradually returns to its normal form as it fades away. An impressive display of technology it is not, but younger players will no doubt find it entertaining.
As you progress from one level to another, you are treated to an animation of your ZooCube being transported across oceans and continents. Background elements represent the Egyptian pyramids and other famous world sights.
The sharp and colorful graphics coupled with appropriately beastly howls, squawks and roars creates a fun package. Smooth tunes will lull you into a trance as you play.
Game Modes
Four different game modes are available from the beginning of ZooCube. In Classic Mode, you travel through seven levels in an attempt to save all the animals. The farther you get, the faster the animals will travel toward your cube. Once you complete the Classic mode you can unlock two more difficulty levels to up the challenge.
Knockout Mode starts you out with a ZooCube stacked with animal shapes. The object is to eliminate as many animals as possible given a set number of matching pieces. This may be the easiest of the four modes because failure results in a lower score but does not stop your progression.
Blind Mode is just like Classic Mode, except that the animal pieces have been drained of color. Without seeing the tiger's orange stripes or the parrot's bright feathers you must identify each piece by shape alone. Because many shapes are similar you must keep a sharp eye on each animal. There is also a blind variation of Knockout Mode.
In Collaborative Mode, two players share the burden of saving the animal kingdom via split-screen. Working together you can even swap special pieces to assist your pal.
If you are feeling slightly less friendly you can play Competitive Mode, in which as many as four players can battle each other to see who can last the longest. New items are introduced in this mode that will deliver junk to your opponents or speed up their animal onslaught.
With ZooCube, Acclaim has succeeded in bringing a unique puzzle game to the Nintendo GameCube. The graphics and sound are some of the best in the puzzle genre. Fun for kids and adults too, ZooCube nonetheless lacks the insanely addictive quality of a top notch puzzle game.
This game has been rated "E" (Everyone) by the independent Entertainment Software Rating Board. ZooCube is in stores now. Two memory blocks are needed to save progress on a Memory Card (not included).
- Vendor: Nintendo
- Type: Nintendo Games
