Q.U.B.E.

Overview

Q.U.B.E. is a first person puzzle game for PC. A enhanced version with a fully developed story narration and new content was developed for consoles and PC titled Q.U.B.E. Director's Cut.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Q.U.B.E. is centered entirely around the ability to manipulate the environment using special gloves. By simply clicking on surfaces players can create stairs, ledges and jump pads to reach where they need to be.

Once they reach the half way point in the game though, the game starts presenting far more complex puzzles and more than doubles the amount of mechanics that can be combined into a single puzzle. Players will start off by simply using the three primary extruding blocks, but eventually puzzles will incorporate beams of light that have to be directed using rotating blocks that sometimes must be aimed at colored blocks in order to trigger the next step of the puzzle. Some puzzles use a system of magnetic walls that will push and pull blocks in a any given direction combined with the primary extruding blocks in order to proceed.

There are also sections in the game where the visual style of the game will alter dramatically to have a significant impact on the puzzles and the players awareness. The usual light grey color of the environment will be pitch black and only allow the player to see one colored cube at a time until they have completed sections of the puzzle. There are also sections where the player must repair the various cubes that have been damaged in order to proceed by manipulating various cables that are placed in the environments.

Very late in the game is when the player gains the ability to place these cubes on the environment themselves, certain key areas of the floors, walls and ceilings can be assigned the attributes of the basic red, blue and yellow blocks and the player must utilize their knowledge of the mechanics in order to succeed in solving these puzzles.

Puzzle Elements

Every puzzle in Qube is made up of a careful selection of the different ways the player has to manipulate the environment. While players only start out with the simple blocks that can be extruded from walls and ceilings, the game quickly expands to offer a multitude of different abilities that really put their mind to the test.

Type of Block	Function
	Can be extruded in increments of three.
	Juts out when the player steps on it, acting as a jump pad to reach higher areas and to launch ball-keys.
	A set of three blocks that will extrude 1 block in size depending on which one the player clicks. Unless the middle block is clicked in which case that will levitate by two and the sides by one.
	These only appear in certain areas where they can be used to give the player extra height or block paths in order to succeed.
	When used these will orientate a part of the wall or ceiling in the specified direction.
	These will generate by the player and must be moved into specific areas in order to unlock and progress through multi-stage puzzles.
	The same principal as the standard key balls, but these must be passed through translucent colored blocks that will then trigger uniquely colored switches.

PC System Requirements

• OS:Windows XP SP2 / Vista / 7
• Processor:2.0+ GHz (dual core recommended)
• Memory:1 GB RAM
• Graphics:NVIDIA 8000 series or higher (Shader Model 3 Compatible)
• DirectX®:dx90c
• Hard Drive:1 GB HD space