Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest

"The stranger game that I would have never thought of playing..."

A stranger game I may never have played. Quirky, frightening, addicting, these are all good adjectives one may use to describe Atlus' latest product Cubivore. What other virtual world can you recall that provided you with cubicle animals that eat each other, grow limbs, mutate and make love??? Let me explain.
What can only possibly be described as an evolution simulation, Cubivore is the tale of one young cube beginning his life in a world where colorful surroundings seems to be only a memory. There are entire sections of the world that have turned completely white, and while at first it seems that your primary goal is to bring the world back to flourishing life, it turns out to be but a mere sidetrack in this crazy game called life.

I began my life as a cube with a pig face and one limb, Piggy Trav. To make my way in the world, I just had to survive. What you do to survive ends up being what this game is all about. One of the first things I learned to do was kill and dismember other animal cubes, hence the name ''cubivore''. First you lock on Zelda style, then leap at the enemy damaging their hit points. When the hit points run out and the enemy is unconscious, you can launch at them again, this time with the intention of ripping off one of their limbs.

Yeah, cubivores have limbs. The limbs are nothing more than flat, square polygons attached to your head somewhere. When you start, you're only equipped with one limb, and you kind of limp around by pushing yourself with your paddle-foot. It's a sad sight indeed. Do not fret though, for you once you eat the cubivore's colored meat (limb), you will mutate into a new form.

Mutation plays a key role in the game, and it's all based on color. You begin the game as a certain color, but through eating other animals' meat, you can change the color of your limbs. Since you only start with one limb, when you eat meat of a different color, you will mutate into a different form. This basically just moves your square polygon to another place on your body visually, but it dramatically affects performance and stats like movement, jumping, and attack power. Instead of scooting across the ground, now you may slither like a snake.

When you have more limbs, then you don't mutate until all of them are the same new color. This is where doo comes into play. Call it whatever you like, doo, poo, poopie, but sometimes you need to relieve yourself of a recently obtained color in order to shoot for a new mutation. The only way to do that is to dump out the last color. That means literally pooping on the field. The doo is left behind in a steaming pile, and now you can re-color that limb by eating more meat. It's all a part of the natural life cycle I suppose.

You gain more limbs when you reach the end of a level. By defeating the level boss, who has one more limb than you do, you will receive raw meat that gives you a special ability. Not only do you get to use this special ability now, like sprinting, but you also get a chance to mate. Female cubivores find you increasingly attractive based on how many times you've mutated and how many love points you've accrued. You see the some number of ladies come on the screen, and then you all exit stage left to get it on. The game courteously shows you how many of the females you've impregnated and are ready to bare young. The newborns all have one more limb than their daddy, and you get to select the particular mutation that you'd like to start with.

You begin play as the child in a new world in what may be the most disturbing visual I've ever witnessed in video game. The baby, that you control, grows before your eyes as well as those of his father's. The father's disembodied head that is. You can walk around and push the head, but it's completely lifeless. ''Daddy, are you sleeping?''

The game continues pretty much the same way for a while until you try to mate with the ultimate cubivore...then she eats you. You go to heaven and learn a few more tricks. When you come back you are reincarnated as a bear cube. Grizzly Trav, ROAR! You start all over again with only one limb and no special abilities, but this time you'll be able to obtain more limbs than Piggy Trav could. Lather, rinse, repeat and you'll eventually finish the game.

What can you say about the graphics? They are very simplistic. The world is but series of cube shaped polygons with very limited texturing. I guess they were going for the same approach that Animal Crossing took with its basic graphics, that and the fact that this stems from an N64 game. Cubivore makes up for the lack of glitz by showcasing some excellent, and very key, animation. When you're only working with blocks and squares, it takes some quality work to bring that geometry to life. The running and leaping and scooting all looks very convincing considering the models given to work with.

I can't say there's much to the sound at all. It's mostly ambient music and noise while you're roaming around. There are a few sound effects for munching and crunching, but that's pretty much it. The only thing of note is the grizzly's growl when you lock on to a target, ROAR.

Ok, so that's it. This game is bizarre with a capital ''B''. Bravo to Atlus for picking up another obscure title from Japan and bringing it over stateside. Make note of the prose written by your character as you advance the story. I don't even know how to describe it (much like the rest of the game), but it's well worth the read. The score for this review couldn't possible reflect how I've felt playing the game, so hopefully you took the time to read through the full text. I must say I had a hard time putting down while I was playing, but I'm not even sure if I was having a good time. If nothing else, Cubivore is intriguing, and we'll leave it at that.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/15/04