October 13, 2016.
An elegantly simple puzzle game, SUPERHYPERCUBE features one single mode of play which couldn’t be easier to explain. Take a single cube and push it through a hole in a wall, the cube evolves, sprouting new cubes, changing shape, demanding more and more player manipulation as you struggle to push it through ever-more-complex holes.
For every bunch of cubes you successfully manipulate through a wall you’ll gain points which can be added to by solving the puzzle at hand as quickly as possible then holding down boost to push your solution quickly into place. Besides earning you more points, solving puzzles efficiently will fill up a gauge which, once full, allows you to slow time right down, draining the entire world of colour for just a few seconds, a get out of jail card you’ll use sparingly as it takes its sweet time to refill.
Taking obvious cues from Tetris, this is a fiendishly addictive score attack puzzle game, and not just because of the simplicity of its gameplay or ease of its controls, but also the wonderful way in which the whole thing is raised to another level by its presentation in VR.
Here you’re literally inside the puzzle, your cubes, pulsating neon blocks which can be rotated in any direction, are placed right in front of your face to the extent you’ll need to actually move your head to peer around them at incoming walls which rush rhythmically towards you. As you successfully manage to push through each wall you’ll pass through it, you can peer back over your shoulder and see each one pass into the distance. It’s such a simple, beautifully realised, and fun idea that adds tension and excitement to proceedings.
Without the VR aspect I have no doubt this would still be an addictive experience, but, because of VR it becomes so much more, a beautiful neon puzzle dream; its flawless soundtrack reacting to every success and failure you make as your surroundings ebb and flow, rising and falling to the music, adding a real sense of drama as the puzzle before you increases in complexity.
The launch line-up of games for PSVR has been strong on presenting old experiences in exciting new ways and this is undoubtedly one of the strongest so far. Its trippy neon aesthetic, addicting gameplay and perfect audio all come together to create a beautiful little puzzle world which you’ll disappear into for hours at a time as you battle to make your way up the world leaderboards or beat your PSN pals.
Kokoromi have also designed one of the PSVRs least sickness inducing games here, in fact, I didn’t feel any motion sickness at all during my hours of playtime. There’s no blurriness to the images, no jagged edges or sudden, nausea-inducing camera movements. The visual design ensures you’re always focused on the puzzles, the music and psychedelic sci-fi landscapes adding to your enjoyment rather than causing headaches or distraction.
The one place where it does fall down is the pricing. As much as puzzle fans will enjoy its single mode of play and as satisfying it is to see a game with such clarity of purpose, I can’t help but feel that a lower price point would make it much more worth giving a try, £24.99 feels a little bit too steep for a puzzle game of this type and you’re definitely paying a premium for the VR factor.
However, price niggles aside, what you’ve got here is a brilliantly simple, fiendishly addictive puzzler and another of the standout games so far on PSVR. It’s early days for the hardware but already Kokomori have proven that, through clever and subtle use of the medium, even the humble puzzle game can be absolutely reinvigorated, transcending the most simple of premises to become much more than the sum of its parts.
Beautifully simple but addictive
Amazing presentation
Clever use of VR
Quite expensive for what it is
A brilliantly simple, fiendishly addictive puzzler and another of the standout games so far on PSVR.