PixlBit

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's the case, Bizarre Creations should be absolutely tickled pink as Square Enix's latest release, Death By Cube, is a blatant attempt at copying the successful Geometry Wars formula. Unfortunately for developer Premium Agency, the results are nowhere near the quality of said series and players will notice immediately.

The game's premise is fairly simple: you take control of a robot and you move around on a square playing field shooting various enemies (mostly cubes) that pop out on the playing field. In order to give the experience some variety, aside from shooting their gun (which is controlled by the right control stick like Geometry Wars), players can both dash and shield.

The dash will temporarily stun nearby enemies and allow players to shoot and kill them without much threat. When killing an enemy in this fashion, players are awarded power-ups that assist with various functions, such as shot radius.

The shield maneuver is necessary for avoiding fired shots, as the game will constantly drop enemies armed with firepower to track you. The only way to avoid taking damage is shielding to absorb the shots. Upon activating the shield and absorbing shots, players must release the shield or the absorbed shots will cause it to detonate; killing the player. Releasing the shield releases the absorbed firepower in the direction of the second joystick, allowing players to defeat the shooting foes around them.

On the surface, Death By Cube seems to have everything necessary to succeed in producing a fun experience. A twist on a proven formula, unlockable levels with cash earned during playtime, and new unlockable robots to make players better at certain functions. However, Death By Cube fails in its attempt.

I've never played a game that was so brutally hard during the tutorial missions. In fact the fifth tutorial mission took me countless attempts to push through. I was embarassed to do so poorly, but after completing the mission, it was obvious that this section was made to be as challenging as possible to prepare me for the rest of the game.

While this is not a horrible idea, it certainly did not endear me to the experience. Beyond those missions, even at a steady challenge level, the game was not what I'd call fun. The enemies are unvaried, the visuals unimpressive, and the overall experience felt pretty monotonous.

Certain other parts of the experience were also frustrating, particularly instances that required use of all three player functions. Often times the game would drop multiple types of enemies, some that require shielding to protect against and others requiring the dash. In this situation, firepower and enemies were all on a crash course towards me, and the odds were simply insurmountable. As hard as I would try to avoid dying, I couldn't do it. It was as if the game was forcing me to lose a life in the given situation to make the level's challenge tougher. I would have preferred to start the level with less lives than to be forced into death at a certain section of the level.

As stated, Death By Cube seems to have the elements necessary for success. More variety and better level/enemy design would have taken this from being an ok two-stick shooter, to a solid contender for your dollars on the Xbox Live Arcade.