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There's a certain level of complexity one expects from a puzzle game. A few easy rules to govern piece movement balanced by hidden depth to the way things interact with each other covers it nicely. Cubis 2, on the other hand, shoots itself in the foot by layering on variable after variable in how the pieces interact with each other, rendering it a tedious mess instead of a fun round of block destruction.
The setup is the usual "link three colored blocks together and they disappear" formula that's worked so well in the past, played out on a seven by seven grid viewed from an isometric angle. A number of colored blocks are arranged in a pattern on the grid, and the cursor can fire a block on either of the lower two edges of the board. There's a list of the next four pieces at the bottom right, so it's theoretically easy to plan out moves several steps ahead of the current one. A quick mouse click sends the piece in a straight line to, hopefully, meet up with a few similarly colored cubes, leaving the board just that little bit clearer for the next move.
Cubis 2 piles so many gameplay variables on top of each other that it's maddeningly difficult to come up with a workable plan.
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If only it was that easy. Cubis 2 piles so many gameplay variables on top of each other that it's maddeningly difficult to come up with a workable plan. When a block slides into another, it will knock it one space forward and come to rest in the spot the original block held, unless there's another one behind it, in which case it'll just stop. There are also wedge blocks, which can slide underneath other cubes unless the pile is three cubes high, in which case it will stop dead in its tracks. The color morph piece follows similar rules, except instead of just sliding under a piece it also changes that block to its color. Unless it hits a tower three cubes high, of course, in which case it just becomes a normal block and doesn't change the color of anything. Assuming there's nothing behind the tower, though, a normal cube will push the base block one spot forward and take its place at the bottom.
And then there's cracked cubes, which are destructible. Any cube falling from a height of two squares will crack, and a hit by a regular block will shatter it. Wedge and color morph blocks just slide right under, though, lifting it up and out of harm's way. On top of that there are also blocks with two colors, needing to be part of two three-block groupings in order to be cleared, and stone blocks that can only be disposed of by laser or bomb.
In the meantime, the blocks given to clear the level come in a truly random order, including colors that aren't actually part of the board makeup. Color morph and bi-colored blocks that have nothing to do with anything happening on screen are just as likely to appear as something useful, making arranging combos more trouble than it's worth. A normal level will usually turn into one half of the board being worked on as pieces become available, while the other half is a semi-chaotic dump where the useless pieces are preventing access to the main cube cluster. There's too much going on, with too many rules governing the effects of each block added to the play field, to allow you to do anything but create the most basic strategies.
Aside from its pointless complexity, Cubis 2 has a few other issues to contend with. Its four gameplay modes all use the same level designs, with only slightly tweaked objectives to differentiate them. Whether it's clearing a certain number of cubes from a level or aiming for all the cubes with stars on them, the gameplay doesn't really change from one mode to the next. And while there's usually nothing wrong with classic 2D graphics, when a pile of cubes is hiding the ones behind it, leaving no way to rotate the board to see what you could be working on if only there was some way to know what's there, that's a problem.
Despite all this, Cubis 2 isn't totally useless. When the right blocks come along for a good combo setup, it can be as satisfying as ever to clear off huge chunks of the play field. The block movement rules are a bit much, but sorting them out and learning how to work around and even with them is possible. But when a single useless cube shows up near the beginning of a level, the board covered in a large pattern of colors that requires no move be wasted, it's very easy to just quit out and walk away, no matter how much time you've put into learning Cubis 2's intricacies.
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