Puzzle Cubicle is like a real life jigsaw puzzle. You are given a bunch of pieces to put together and must rotate, move, and place the pieces to complete the puzzle. However, in Puzzle Cubicle, you are not given the picture you are trying to reproduce. In the earlier levels you are given hints to help complete the puzzle, but as the difficulty increases you are given less hints. You have up to 50 puzzles to solve with easy, medium, and hard difficulties.

aww, well isn’t that nice.

I will admit, it is definitely a thought provoking game and the designs of these puzzles are creative and will stump you on the later levels. I found myself taking anywhere from 10 – 30 minutes to solve puzzles in the last ten or so medium levels. The designs are not always predictable and you’ll find yourself retrying with different possible solutions. Now, considering all that, Puzzle Cubicle succeeds with functional and challenging gameplay.

However, the game falters in other areas. While the music was ok for a little while, you soon realize it’s the same 4 or 5 songs throughout the whole game and end up just turning it off because it gets annoying. The lack of game modes to play is disappointing, as once all 50 puzzles are done, there’s not much else to do. The rules used to explain how the puzzles work aren’t very clear and you’ll find yourself experimenting to figure out some puzzles. This in itself can be difficult when the hints occasionally do not show the right spot for what does or doe not need a puzzle piece (see picture below).

I also have to mention how picky the puzzles can be. Sometimes you’ll think you have the solution, but the game actually has another one which is slightly different then the one you have. I found myself wasting time simply because the game wouldn’t except my solution even though it matches the picture or was slightly off. Then I would spend the next 15 minutes trying to out what I did wrong. Seems like a small issue, but it’s a frustrating one.

From the left, row 3/column 3 isn’t suppose to have a “?” in the hint picture. This can confuse players when trying to complete it.

While it certainly has some interesting and challenging puzzles, Puzzle Cubicle lacks staying power and has some annoyances that keep me from giving it a recommendation. Good thing is though that the game only costs $2 so it won’t break your wallet to give this one a try if you are interested.

Summary: Puzzle Cubicle is a unique take on the genre with challenging puzzles, but repetitive music and other annoyances combined with a lack of staying power keep it from a recommendation.

Verdict: 4 out of 10

Platforms: PC, Xbox 360

Puzzle Cubicle was developed by Geek Mode. It is available to purchase either on Desura or Xbox Live Indie Arcade

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