Being a video game reviewer you get all sorts of emails from various PR companies, publishers and developers asking you to check out their game. In my experience most of the games that I’ve looked at come from the US, EU and Japanese developers. For today’s review we take a look at a game that was developed in South Korea called Survive! Mr. Cube.
I’m a survivor
Simple rouge like- Rouge like, although simple in nature, can be pretty complicated to the first timer. There’s stat management, item management, grinding/leveling, exp allocation, and most important of all trying to stay alive long enough to make it to the exit to stash loot or risk losing all progress made. Survive! Mr. Cube makes things super simple by having the player take on a pre-determined (more on that later) and throws them into the game’s world. The objective is to, as it states in the title, is to survive 25 floors with said character. Speaking of characters….
Procedurally generated character- In most rouge-like/lite games, you usually are in control of the stats and looks of your character. Survive! Mr. Cube however does things differently by giving you a randomly generated character. Depending on what kind of character you end up with will effect how you play the game. For example in one playthrough you might roll a character that has low base stats and does not have any equipment on. You have to focus on staying alive and finding gear to protect yourself. In another playthrough you might roll a character that has high stats and better gear, making the trek through the dungeon much safer and easier. This is a really interesting concept and though it can be frustrating when you roll a weak character, I find it fun and challenging trying to stay alive as long as I can with my weak character.
Easy to platinum- Ever since trophies were introduced into PS3 games, hunting them down to increase one’s level for bragging rights has been a thing. A thing that can get addicting once you have received your first platinum trophy. Though there are many games out there that have you do some ridiculous things just for a couple of trophies, Survive! Mr. Cube’s trophy list is pretty simple and easy. This is perfect for those who are getting into trophy hunting or want a quick platinum to pick up.
-10 damage
Mobile port feel- When I first booted up Survive! Mr. Cube, the game had a mobile feel to it. The UI was very minimalistic, controls were very simple even for a rouge-like and there’s a lack of options such as button rebinding. After a bit of checking, it turns out that the game is a port. There’s isn’t anything wrong with the game being a port, this is more of a nitpick on my part. With that said, Survive! Mr. Cube would do well on the Vita or even on the Switch.
As I mentioned before, as someone who reviews games, I see all kinds of games that PR reps, developers and publishers send to my email, asking if I would like to check out their game. Survive! Mr. Cube was one of those games and I have to say, it’s a pretty decent rouge-like. I enjoyed the fact that even though the game was a rouge-like, its was simple and easy to jump right in. I also enjoyed having to roll a different character each time that I died. This mechanic made things much more interesting. And for those trophy hunters out there, Survive! Mr. Cube is pretty easy to platinum. There is one nitpick that I have and its that it feels too much like its mobile counterparts on iOS and Android. The game would feel much better at home on the Vita or Switch. With that said, I really enjoyed Survive! Mr. Cube and would recommend that you give it at least a quick look.
