In the early days of commercial VR gaming, I have a feeling that there will be a lot of tech demos sold as games. As developers test the limits and learn what works and what doesn’t, plenty of game ideas will be unleashed to the masses hoping to recoup the cost spent on those lessons. However, there are also some shining VR gems that already have a perfectly defined limitation and capitalize on what works. Super HyperCube is one such game.

A no-nonsense arcade puzzle game, Super HyperCube allows players to rotate shapes made of cubes in full three-dimensional space in order to make the block clusters fit through holes in a wall that looms in the distance and creeps ever closer. Players must rotate the shape on either the X, Y, or Z axis while using the PSVR headset to look around the block to get an idea of the approaching hole’s dimensions. Almost immediately when the hole can be seen, the distinct shape can be discerned. Other times it feels like the shape doesn’t come into focus until it’s almost too late.

Whether a shape matches a hole or not, the block passes through the wall and a new hole in a distant wall appears. However, if the player can get the shape to match the hole before reaching the wall, it can be forced to quickly drop through. Additional cubes are also added to the shape as progress is made, while points are accumulated based on how many cubes make up the shape for each cleared wall. The speed at which each new wall must be cleared also increases with each successful fitting. A new stage is reached after 10 walls are successfully passed.

Two different meters fill up as each shape is successfully passed. One meter allows for stopping time to get a better chance to figure out just how to rotate the shape to fit it through the encroaching hole. The other meter allows the shape to be smashed through a wall regardless of whether or not the shape is in the correct position. Both of these meters fill at a slow rate and should only be used when absolutely necessary.

From a visual perspective, Super HyperCube looks like a neon wireframe throwback to old vector graphics. Once a shape is successfully passed through the wall, a wash of warm color bombards the senses with a surprising intensity that is almost offputting at first but quickly becomes a satisfying jolt like a hit from a drug. The need to be bathed in the wash of color becomes an addictive reward.

I truly enjoy playing Super HyperCube, but I’m honestly terrible at it. This game is brutal in its efficiency for displaying the Game Over screen. If a shape doesn’t fit through the hole in the oncoming wall, cubes are deducted from the overall shape and then players only get one more chance to keep playing. Two strikes and the game is over–unless a minimum score of 1000 is reached, which I haven’t even come close to doing (my high score so far is 424).  For as brutal as the game is, it is quick to get right back into it.  And on the two or three great runs I’ve managed to put together, I constantly felt like I was a Zen master, managing to match the shapes with the walls at just the last second. Other times (more times than I care to admit), I tend to hit the wall even before finishing the first ten sections.

I’m not sure if the frustration stems from not being able to puzzle through spatial relations in a short period of time, or if the game just feels harshly unfair with the limited amount of time a player gets by only being able to hit the wall twice before seeing Game Over. Granted, this is as pure an arcade game as you can get, and if VR was workable tech back in the heyday of coin-operated arcades, Super HyperCube‘s creators would have made a fortune in quarters.

Easy to learn but difficult to master, Super HyperCube is a rainbow drug trip awash with warm, glowing colors and satisfying gameplay. Simple yet effective VR implementation is used to create a fun challenge of having the manipulated shape sit immediately in front of your face while needing to tilt your head, or more likely your entire body, in order to see what the shape of the hole in the wall is. Even though the game can be harsh with the limited amount of lives, the quick nature of getting right back into a new run makes for a fairly balanced experience.

Pros:
+ Incredibly intense VR visuals
+ Quick response gameplay
+ Easy to learn, hard to master

Cons:
– Harsh limit of lives each playthrough

Game Info:
Platform: PlayStation VR for PlayStation 4
Publisher: Polytron
Developer: kokoromi
Release Date: 10/13/2016
Genre: Arcade/Puzzle
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Players: 1

Source: Review code provided by publisher

Buy From: PlayStation Store for $29.99

Imagine living your life in a flat world, where everything is accessible by simply walking left or right (and maybe jumping up or down). Life would be plain and simple. But what if one day you are told that the world has depth? Not the kind of depth that allows you to simply reach out and grab that mug of coffee in front of you, but rather your flat world has three more sides to it, and those sides can only be seen from the same flat perspective. Rotate your world 90 degrees and suddenly a wall you’ve never seen before makes up your current plane of existence.

This is Fez in a nutshell. A very rich and complex nutshell from the mind of Phil Fish and Polytron.

Fez stars Gomez, an adorable young chap from a small 2D village, who learns that his world is not what he thought it was: flat. Gomez heads off on a mission to collect yellow cubes (which are sometimes whole, but more often are broken up into 8 bits) to restore the balance of the universe. In order to do this, Gomez must work his way through the world by climbing, jumping, and shifting the perspective of his flat world to collect the cubes, which are necessary to unlock doors and propel further exploration through the game.

Fez is not an easy game to describe, other than to say that it is a puzzle-solving platformer heavily influenced by old-school traditions. But there is so much more to it than that. Puzzles are presented throughout the world with very little indication or direction on how to solve them. Except that isn’t entirely true. Subtle clues are laid out throughout the world, which to the keen observer will provide the key to solving most puzzles. An alphabet and number system have been constructed through a series of symbols made up by placing patterns in cubes. These symbols are then tattooed throughout the world (some as hieroglyphs, others as direct conversations with other people in the world). Many of these symbol groupings give direct instruction in how to solve a puzzle, while others are cryptic as hell and often require time away from the game in order to allow the solution to calculate in the back of your brain.

I find the game to be both deeply rewarding and yet at the same time, very frustrating. The side-scrolling exploration is a true joy. Puzzling out the physical world one plane of view at a time is challenging yet satisfying. But having to scribble down a new alphabet and numeric system and essentially learn a new language is almost asking a bit too much for my head. Puzzle clues lean toward retro gaming references, many of which are lost on me. Having to scribble down words is one thing, but then having to look up more than half of the clue references in order to solve puzzles takes away a lot of the fun.

Following a binary math pattern, Gomez needs to find 2 cubes to open one door, 4 cubes to open a second, 8 to open a third, 16 to open a fourth, and 32 to open a final door. However, once 16 cubes are found and Gomez enters that realm, the mind blowing aspect of the game really takes hold: another doorway requires 64 cubes in order to unlock the secrets held within. I love puzzle games. I admit I’m not terribly good at them sometimes. But the daunting task of finding 32 cubes was challenging enough. I can’t imagine dedicating so much time deciphering every nuance laid out plain as day (albeit in code) just to see what is behind door number six.

I would agree that Fez provides many fun experiences along the way to finding even 32 cubes, but the biggest problem with that journey is the map. Similar to how the game world works, the map can be rotated and zoomed in or out to get a better sense of what hasn’t been explored. A nice touch that the map provides is a visual cue by means of gold outline on any room or world that has had all cubes or puzzles solved. The problem with the map, though, is that it is like a three-dimensional logic chart. One realm of the world may have six or seven rooms branching out of it, or a branch that leads to an entirely new realm, but it does not clearly indicate how to get to some of those rooms or new realms. I often found myself doubling back through areas six or seven times trying to figure out how the hell to get to an area that I had clearly not been to before.

But it is hard to stay mad or frustrated at the game when the music is so calming and the visuals are so striking. While the world at first glance would seem to be very simple in design, the level of detail is mind blowing. The level of interconnections made between each plane of a world is so thoughtfully planned and the richness of the world as a whole is indicative of how much love was put forth in creating the game. One odd thing I encountered with the game is the fact that when I played at full resolution (1680×1050 or even lesser resolutions) the game adds black bars at the top and sides. While the game has a higher resolution it is forced to be viewed in a smaller frame which frankly sucks. Even after a patch (or two–version 1.07 at the time of this writing) the game still displays with the bars. The only way to view the game while using the full real estate of my monitor forced me to kick the resolution down to basically 720p. The case could be made that since the game is only pushing retro style block art, the game doesn’t need to be seen at such a high resolution, but on the other hand, this is an issue that is not isolated to me. Being an indie developer will give you some leeway from gamers, but not fixing something as critical as this is just as baffling as some of the puzzles in the game.

As I alluded to above, the music in the game adds a richness equal to the visuals. A complex mix of chip tune melodies, the music of Fez helps to evoke the calm serenity of most sections of the game, but also enhances the dread and excitement of others. Listening to the game with 5.1 surround sounds adds to the effect that the game is basically a cube viewed from one side at a time as the music dampens or increases depending on which side of the cube Gomez stands on. This is a really cool touch and one that adds more immersion to the game.

Like many games, the journey is where the experience is had, not at the end. Fez is no exception. Solving three-dimensional puzzles while forced to view them in a fixed plane adds a fun twist to what could otherwise be a tired exercise. At first blush the game is a simple puzzle platformer, but quickly it ramps up to a deep homage to games from the past. Given that the game was released a year ago on the 360, there are some folks who may not have had the chance to play the game on their platform of choice. Unfortunately even with the passing of a year between then and the new PC version, there are many issues that crop up. Is this a game that should be played? Yes — especially if you love a deep, challenging puzzler rife with retro gaming references. But does it come off without a few puzzling design flaws? Not as of this writing.

Pros:
+ Fun twist on 3D puzzles viewed from a flat 2D perspective
+ A treasure trove of gaming references
+ Enchanting music

Cons:
– Higher resolutions don’t display correctly
– Many puzzles require too much note taking
– World map is not as helpful as it could be

Game Info:
Platform: PC (also previously released on Xbox 360)
Publisher: Trapdoor
Developer: Polytron Corporation
Release Date: 5/1/2013
Genre: 2D Platformer/Puzzle
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Players: 1
Source: Review code provided by publisher

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