Game Info
GAME NAME: Cubemen 2
DEVELOPER(S): 3 Sprockets
PUBLISHER(S): Nnooo Games
PLATFORM(S): Nintendo Wii U
GENRE(S): Tower Defense
RELEASE DATE(S): September 4th, 2014
The first title that I got to play on the Wii U that offered cross-platform play was Pure Chess from Ripstone Games and Voofoo Studios. The inclusion made it seamless and easy to find games and never kept you waiting for long. Now the second title that uses cross-platform play, this time with steam, is Cubemen 2 from 3 Sprocket and Nnooo Games. The result is an endless amount of content that will keep you busy of the life cycle of the game.
Cubemen 2 starts you off with a tutorial if you aren’t used to the tower defense genre. The tutorial is pretty wordy, but luckily I’ve had my hands on a few games in the genre, so picking up on the intricacies wasn’t too difficult. Once you have a grasp on the controls and how to play, you can make your way online or play one of two single-player campaigns. The campaigns are really just 15 set levels. One of the coolest features of Cubemen 2 though is the ability to completely customize the skin of the maps or characters. This keeps the game feeling fresh from level to level. I finally got to live out my fantasy of Luchadors storming a Minecraft-esque castle.
The Multiplayer is really where the game picks up though. It turns it from being a tower defense game into more of a Real-Time Strategy with different modes such as Capture the Flag, King of the Hill and more. I enjoyed playing online team battles when I could find a game and hopefully the community continues to grow as it seemed to be hit or miss over the course of my review.
If single player is more of your thing you can still download and save user created content or even create maps of your own. There are already some super creative levels, I even seen one that looked like a flattened out map of the Earth. There are always some super creative people when it comes to user created content.
The controls are completely handled on the touchscreen and the zoom and rotating camera controls are mapped to the control sticks. This feels really natural and intuitive. On a negative note it also renders your TV to be useless. In the title you will tap on the unit that you will want to build on the left hand side of the touchscreen and then tap on the square that you would like to place him on. You have the ability to upgrade each unit to level three with cubes earned from killing enemies. You can constantly move and reposition your troops, but they can’t shoot while you are moving them. When you tap on a unit it also shows their attack radius which is super helpful as well, especially when you are trying to create the best defense barrier.
Graphically, Cubemen 2 looks like Minecraft and LEGO had a baby. This isn’t a horrible thing but it also doesn’t do enough to craft it’s own style. Again, the ability to change all the skins really helps add a layer of replayability that isn’t present in most games of this genre and really changes up how the story in your mind would play out. The menus are really dull and bland but dont really ruin the experience. The soundtrack is okay and nothing memorable.
The Recommendation
Cubemen 2 is a really unique gem of the Nintendo eShop. On one hand it is a bold take not only on the tower defense genre but the cross-platform ability of Nintendo’s home console. On the other hand, the lack of community that currently resides is small enough that it made finding an online game difficult at times. I would recommend picking this title up for the single-player experience alone though, as it is still fun enough to give you hours of entertainment with all the great user created content available.
