PSP Fanboy hands-on: Cube

We've spent a lot of time with D3 Publisher's upcoming action puzzle game, Cube. The basic premise of the game is quite simple: get your cube to the exit. Of course, as is the case with all puzzle games, it's not going to be that easy: you'll have to avoid various traps along the way, lest you meet a blocky death. There are a few elements that spice things up along the way. Firstly, your cube can stick onto any side of the platforms. The game encourages you to traverse through levels any way you want: upside-down, on its side, right-side up. The three dimensionality of the game is interesting, and it opens up a lot of gameplay possibilities.

There are quite a large number of puzzles to tackle in the game, which is a huge plus. Also, there's a level editor so that you can create and share your own puzzles. Our early build doesn't have it, but the final retail version will also have Game Sharing, so you can play with other PSP owners that don't have the game. Considering its budget price ($20), there's a great amount of content, making Cube easily one of PSP's greatest values. However, we're a little concerned about a few presentation issues. It feels like everything is a bit too sluggish: the controls feel a little too slow, and the load times seem a bit too long for a game with such minimalistic graphics. Most annoyingly, you must reload the entire level when replaying it--this will prove to be quite frustrating in the more difficult levels.

Hopefully, these quirks will be ironed out before the game's official release on April 24th. Expect more coverage on PSP Fanboy closer to the game's release.