"Think of this as a new version of Tetris."

This game is a puzzle game, kind of like Tetris, but with some things modified and changed.

Gameplay: 9/10

This is kind of like an animal version of Tetris with a couple of things changed. First, there are power-ups added that will help you complete any certain mode. You'll rotate the blocks so that the same "animal color" matches another one. Then, those blocks will disappear and you'll score points. The objective of the game is to destroy every block. However, it's always a blast to try to get high scores and beat your friends in multiplayer mode. Unfortunately, the blocks themself are small and it doesn't help to know that you'll have to divide the screen by four if you plan to play multiplayer. You'll have to squint to see the power ups and the right colors, and I've always been irritated at games that make me exercise my eyes. You can also use bombs 3 times to blow up a section of cubes. And to make the game even more intense, the cubes are (duh!) three-dimensional. You'll have to rotate the blocks as well as matching them up to the right color. All of this may sound complicated and confusing, but don't fret, Zoocube is an easy game to master, and shouldn't take much skill for you to get used to it.

Graphics: 6/10

Typical graphics, I've never been surprised at the lack of extraordinary graphics in a puzzle game, because it's just that, a puzzle game. Who needs graphics for strategy games to dominate? In any case, ZooCube is an animal version of Tetris, so you will be seeing animals pretty often, for example, when you destroy blocks. There are some mediocre backgrounds that provide an atmosphere for the animal theme, but it isn't anything spectacular. Don't expect anything ground-shaking.

Sound: 5/10

Who likes annoying animal sounds going on during your game? No one. Although that may have been a little critical, ZooCube does nothing special with the mediocre sounds here, and all you get is a bunch of blabber animal sounds. They are okay, since this type of game isn't relying on sound or graphics to be a good one, and I don't see the need to improve anything, though there is a lot of improvement that can be done.

Scores:
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 5/10
Replay: Extremely High
Difficulty: Way Above Average
Fun Factor: Way Above Average
Overall: 8/10

ZooCube is one of the best puzzle games to come to the GameCube and I'm impressed with it. I would recommend buying this game, because it's replay value is very high. This is one of those games where you can beat your friends, and they won't even get angry at you. So buy it. You won't regret it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/05