Welcome to 'Cubix: Robots for Everyone - Race 'n Robots', where robots race and somehow the world doesn't implode. If you ever thought, 'Man, I wish I could see robotic characters who look like they were rejected by a 5-year-old playing with his Lego set race', then buckle your seatbelt, because this is the game for you! Developed by Blitz Games and published by The 3DO Company, this game has all the charm of a discount store's leftover clearance bin. But hey, nostalgia is a powerful thing, and if you were a fan of the show, this might just tickle your robot-loving fancy.
'Race 'n Robots' brings forth a gameplay experience that's about as exciting as watching paint dry, if the paint was also a robot. Players guide their metal companions through whimsical tracks, collecting power-ups that might just make your racing a bit less irrelevant. The main mode is Story Mode—sounds fancy, but it’s essentially a glorified tutorial where you’ll unlock tracks and can spend points on robot upgrades. The catch? The upgrades feel about as useful as a chocolate teapot, providing minimal enhancement to an already lackluster experience. There’s also a Versus Mode that lets you pit your technological marvel against other competitors—it’s like a family gathering where everyone pretends to care about Uncle Bob’s achievements while secretly checking your phone for memes. For a game released in 2001, it struggles to stand out amidst racing giants like 'Mario Kart'. Minor differences exist between the PlayStation and Game Boy Color versions, but they are so minor that calling them differences is like saying an event is merely 'chaotic' when it resembles an explosion in a can factory.
Graphics, you say? Well, buckle up! The visuals of 'Cubix' evoke feelings of nostalgia but not exactly in a good way. The character designs look like they were scraped together from spare parts at a robotics junkyard. It’s colorful, yes, but the charm is on par with an overcooked piece of pizza—slightly off but still edible. The race tracks carry a vivid palette of colors; it’s like a rainbow exploded in a preschool art room. However, it does suffer from what I'd call 'sloppy rendering'; textures stray on the lower end of the visual scale, just short of producing a headache. Comparatively, the cutscenes could probably benefit from more than just a few frames of animation; they look like the animations were lifted from an animated postcard. If trying to win a race is akin to swerving through a candy-colored dreamscape, the all-too-static visuals remind you just how far we've come in gaming tech.
'Cubix: Robots for Everyone - Race 'n Robots' serves up a racing experience that provides as much excitement as a snail marathon. If you pine for the days of 2001 and want to dip your toes back into robotic nostalgia, prepare for mediocrity served with a side of regret. On the PlayStation, it has received mixed reviews, and it's not hard to see why; some gamers have praised the character's charm while others have described it as unplayable. You'd have more fun racing your friends with a cardboard box in a parking lot than slogging through this mechanical mishmash. So, whether you want to relive your childhood dreams of racing robots or simply fill a shelf with games you’ll never touch again, go ahead and take the plunge; just remember to keep your expectations at a pre-school level to enjoy it fully.
Another SquareThought Site