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"Wanna come to my math party? Be there or be SQUARED!!! Ahem...cubed, I mean...."

Quite strange when you think about it

Intelligent Qube is a fresh and unique puzzle game that is like nothing I've ever played before. It's deceivingly simple at first and builds on that until the scope of what you're doing is immense. It's addicting too, and you'll want to keep playing to get higher IQ's/travel farther in the game/challenge your wit. It takes a great deal of split second problem solving and thinking ahead. It won't appeal to all, and actually, will most likely only find a very small audience due to it's nature. Don't let that turn you off however, that small audience has stumbled upon something special.

Any game that can crush you with gigantic ominous blocks of nothing and then derive your IQ from it has got to be good

Gameplay in Intelligent Qube is quite simple really. You are on an elongated rectangle platform of sorts to start out with. On this platform are raised cubes. The cubes roll towards you and it is your job to eliminate them before they roll off the edge of the elongated rectangle platform thingy. If you eliminate all the cubes, a row will be added to the elongated rectangle platform thingy which gives you more time to eliminate the blocks so that they don't fall off the edge. Let some meet their fate off the edge of doom however, and their sum will be added to the block counter. If the block counter is, say, three for that level, for every three cubes that fall off the edge, you will lose one row of the (say it with me now) elongated rectangle platform thingy. Simple, no? To aid (and hinder) you in your cube tagging quest are different kinds of cubes:

The Normal Cube is the one that you will see the most of. It is the color of the level (usually greyish) and has no special properties. Once you tag it, it disappears into the wind. Simple, easy, effective.

The Advantage Cube is a glowing green cube that, when tagged, becomes a bomb lying in wait for blocks. When you explode the bomb, the surrounding squares (all eight of 'em) will also be tagged and any blocks on the spaces will be disintegrated. As the name implies, the advantage cube will give you an advantage in taking out groups of blocks and help you quickly and effectively clear the cubes.

The Forbidden Cube is just that. It's forbidden from being tagged. This ominous black cube will take off a row of your playing field if you tag it. These make clearing the cubes much more difficult because you must worry about tagging them with your advantage cube bombs. Let these fall of the edge, lest ye suffer the wrath of the Forbidden.

The game starts out easily enough, with few Forbidden Cubes, narrow paths, and small groups of blocks. It quickly accelerates into difficulty once the paths get wider, the cube layouts get more complicated, and there are more blocks to tag. The whole game is quite challenging and will take some time to master. To add to the puzzling is a score meter. You get points for taking multiple blocks out with your advantage cube, beating the ''par'' number of rolls for a certain group of blocks, and tagging the group to get a ''perfect''. A ''perfect'' is when you tag all of the normal, and advantage cubes, but let all the forbidden cubes pass over the edge. The rewards are points and a row added to your (hate to drag it back up) elongated rectangle platform thingy. When you do fall off the edge of your elongated rectangle platform thingy, you will be treated to your oh so humble IQ. Your IQ is derived from your efficiency to capture cubes, and the number of cubes captured. While hardly accurate, it is fun to laugh at your friends when their futile attempts to tag cubes gives them an IQ that is equal to their shoe size. A high IQ is quite a feat, and the better you get at solving the puzzles, the higher it will go.

Anyway, this whole elaborate gameplay system really is quite intriguing and fun. You'll enjoy clearing the cubes and beating the levels, and getting a high IQ is good fun. It's rarely frustrating, in fact, the whole experience is oddly relaxing. It can stand on it's own two feet as a puzzler and offers an innovative addition to the genre. Even if you don't understand my elucidation about the gameplay here, there are several in-game tutorials that you can watch to further acquaint yourself with the content. They are very easy to understand (easier than me) and do show you how to succeed. They also added in several videos of some of the later levels. These show how to use the cubes appropriately and get perfect each and every time, well, OK, that's humanly impossible, but to get perfect a couple of times on the last levels.

How come all games use the D-Pad? Pads A-C are feeling a little left out...

I think you can pretty much guess what the controls are in this game. You only use three of the face buttons and the D-Pad. Since y'all know what the D-Pad does, I'll start with the buttons. X marks a square. Wait until the desired cube rolls over the square and hit X again. The cube is tagged and disappears from the board. If that happens to be an advantage cube, there will be a green square in it's place. Press triangle to detonate the bomb and take over the cubes. Once you've gotten all of the necessary cubes, and you don't feel like waiting for the forbidden cubes to slowly make their way over the edge of your elongated rectangular platform thingy, you can press square to accelerate the cubes to get them over the edge. It's simple, easy, and you'll find nothing to complain about.

I'm sure Tetris was the most graphically advanced game available too...

What can I say? The graphics are plain and blocky with little texture or substance. This isn't a bad thing however, seeing that it doesn't require hefty visuals to accent the gameplay. The core game could probably work on an NES, so the graphics don't need to be fancy-schmancy. Aside from this fact though, the graphics aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination. They are simple and effective. You're on a big platform out in the middle of blackness (there's no background) and there are a bunch of blocks on your platform. They give the game almost a surreal quality, and this helps accent the (to quote myself) ''oddly relaxing'' gameplay. Play this to soothe or calm your frayed nerves from a long day. The graphics aren't bad, but are hardly scratching the surface of what the Playstation can do. The menus are sleek and stylish, however. They have a little map projection (which the game starts out with) that spins every so often into a circle (quite odd when the whole game is focused on cubes). It's simple just like the in-game graphics and creates even more surreality.

More like, Intelligent and Artistic Cube, this music is excellent!

Amazing. That was the first thought that crossed my mind when I heard this game. I'd played it before, but never with the sound turned up. I always just played it quietly, and never took heed to the music before. Then one time I turned it on with the sound up and to my surprise, it was beautiful. The opening cinema (I guess you could call it a movie, but it's just a spinning globe that says IQ) sets the standard, and the in-game music continues this trend to create an awesome audio experience. The music could be likened to a night at the symphony orchestra, with strings, brass, and woodwinds coming together for some excellent classical music. The choir comes in also with eerie vocals to compliment the music. It's a far cry from any popular music nowadays and in-fact, most people will dismiss it and go in favor of something more mainstream. For someone who appreciates this music however, it's pleasing to the ear and quite enjoyable. Not only is it good, but it fits perfectly with the game's atmosphere. Great music and eerie vocals accent the surreal mood of the game. The sound effects are top notch also. Echoing booms and the deep powerful voicework again fit right in with the feel of the game. You can't help but love the way the voice booms ''Perfect'' when you achieve one, or the loud boom/groan (that's the best way I can describe it) that starts each level. The whole audio aspect of the game is one of it's best features, and it's a great tie-in to the game's mood.

If the length of this game were measured with a ruler, I'm pretty sure it would be pushing little more than an inch

What could keep this game from supreme greatness? I'd say about an hour. That's about how long you'll play it to beat it once. The game is very short with only eight levels. Now, they try for more longevity by giving you players to unlock, but they are all the same and add nothing to the gameplay. You will come back to play, much in the same way you would re-play Tetris, however, the experience does grow old and is lacking any form of real depth. It's quite a shame, since almost every other aspect of the game is excellent. What it lacks in length, it makes up for in fun, and originality. I guarantee you won't find another game like it anywhere, and it has a successful formula for fun. A great puzzle game. Be ''intelligent'' (sorry) and don't let this game ''roll'' (sorry again) past.

Overall 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/01, Updated 12/28/01