Cubetractor (PC) Review

Cubetractor starts off with Endroi, the robot that players control, being given menial tasks like washing dirty cubes in the river using his ability to pull cubes towards himself. Quickly he goes out of control, using this skill to take down the walls blocking his way and then destroying even the turrets that were to stop his rampage. Endroi continues north, leaving ruin behind him, while thinking that everything he comes across is just another task he should deal with.

This game goes for a simple 2D style that works well. While not high resolution, everything is easy to recognise and has enough detail. Players will recognise each block and turret at a glance. The music is also very simple, and tends to loop maybe a bit too often, but it's still nice enough; nothing awful that would result in muting it has been found during gameplay. This game is, however, lacking in any sort of options, with only the basics covered, like muting the sound and toggling full screen - not even a different resolution setting is available.

Cubetractor supports gamepad or keyboard controls, with only a few actions available. Endroi can move with the arrow keys, and use the Z button to pull a block and X to remove a created turret. One small problem with the game is the lack of changeable settings for these.

As already explained, the game starts off with Endroi pulling blocks around. Over time, the player will learn to pull them into the paths of enemy towers and later to pull different blocks towards each other to form different allied towers, such as a defensive wall, a regular turret, a generator that boosts the fire rate of close by units and several others. While early levels will make this easy, later locations will have blocks in difficult locations, so players must plan out what to pull on, while dodging enemy attacks all the while. The mix of action, puzzles and some tower defence does make for an interesting game, and most missions can be done in bursts of a few minutes, making this title suitable for those without a lot of time.

Each of the primary missions has four ranks to earn, and even skilled gamers shouldn't expect to see a Master Rank after finishing each for the first time. The highest rank requires players to be fast and untouchable, while still destroying every enemy in their way and collecting the items they drop. Gold or Silver ranks will be much more common early on. As well as the primary missions, side-quests will also unlock, in which every enemy must be destroyed and their items collected to complete each level, adding a bit more content to the game for those who enjoy the challenge.