Reviews by LunaNik

I purchased Epistory on sale at another site after playing a demo and falling in love with this unique game. Graphically, it's stunning. Each isometric world unfolds before your eyes, beginning with unadorned squares of newsprint that bend, twist, and crumple into the forms of the landscape, then fade from monotone to color.

Game play is original and a breath of fresh air in an industry rife with overly violent first-person shooters, simplistic hidden object games, and copycat time management games. Move through the main world and eight sub-worlds until you've eradicated the invaders, leveled up with a new power, and defeated the "nest." The sub-worlds are modeled after classic platform games; each is a distinct biome.

Move using the E, F, J, and I keys so you can easily switch to typing words. Space bar switches from movement to typing and back; when you press it, interactions that require typing are revealed. At first, you need only type whatever word appears above each area, obstacle, or enemy. Once you gain powers, some actions will require certain powers. For example, if you're currently using "ice" and an enemy approaches that can only be defeated by fire, you'll have to type "fire" first, then the word that defeats it.

It sounds complicated, but it's really not. The learning curve is perfect, plus adaptive difficulty is built in so if you're not a fast typist, just type more slowly at the beginning when the words are small and you won't be overwhelmed when faced with "oxymoron" or "pseudonym."

Also, there are upgrades you can "purchase" with earned game points to increase the speed of your fox, make your hits on the enemy more powerful in different ways, reveal secrets on the map, and more.

Lastly, it's a fairly long game, especially if you take your time to explore each level and find all the hidden treasure chests, and I believe the replay value is high.

PROLOGUE...
QUBE is like being in the environment of the movie Cube 2: Hypercube while playing an increasingly more complicated three-dimensional game of Sokoban with colored blocks that have different functions. If that seems confusing, it isn't once you begin playing.

ONCE UPON A TIME...
You awaken on the floor of an all-white room that resembles a padded cell. The walls, ceiling, and floor are constructed of equally-sized cubes. Your hands feel strange. When you look at them, you realize you're wearing a tight-fitting pair of gloves that appear to be fitted with electronics. A bit of color catches your eye.

PLAY THE GAME...
You must find your way through the QUBE, and each room is a puzzle. No room can be skipped; the exit door will not open until you've cracked that room's conundrum. The only colors inside the QUBE are on the function blocks, and there are five in all.
1. Red: three cubes in length, extrudes and retracts one cube at a time
2. Yellow: shaped like a staircase, extrudes all at once, three configurations depending on where you click it (3-2-1, 1-2-3, 1-2-1)
3. Blue: just one cube, retracts into springloaded position, used as a trampoline
4. Green: just one cube, but you need other function blocks to shove it around
5. Purple: not movable, consists of directional arrows and rotates the portion of the room its on

In the first sector, you merely have to figure out how to get yourself to the exit, using the blocks. But it quickly gets more complicated with the addition of lasers that need to be activated, empty function blocks where you have to decide which one must be which color, blocked exits necessitating looking for a new exit, secret areas, areas that are completely dark except for the blocks you light up, and more.

SIGHTSEEING...
The graphics are customizable, so if you have a powerful computer, you can amp everything up with depth of field, shadows, and the like. If not, you can "downsize" the graphics. I set everything to eleven and, despite the mostly white environment, I really got lost in the seemingly endless QUBE. I found it very realistic, and even creepy in spots.

Over time, the environment changes from pristine and perfect to rundown and obviously in disrepair. Tunnels and rooms become surreal and appear to have been designed by Escher. Don't rush through; take your time and look around each room. Immerse yourself.

SOUNDBOARD...
Turn it up! There are lots of ambient sounds that occur on the periphery, and they really add to the experience of being alone inside the gigantic, mysterious QUBE. Alone, that is, except for the times when you feel there are others watching you. What was that?!

EPILOGUE...
QUBE is exactly the type of game I love and will play over and over again. First person adventure has always been my favorite genre, and I wish there were more quality games available. To be honest, QUBE drew me into its universe the same way Rhem and Myst did, despite its lack of developed storyline. That's why I'd love to see a sequel...there are so many questions about the QUBE. In the meantime, I'm voluntarily going back in.

The Babysitter plays much like The Hookman. It is a Hidden Object Adventure, but there are no lists. Instead, you find things as you need them...no finding extraneous objects, which is nice. It is just as creepy as The Hookman, but without the jump-in-your-seat scares. Frankly, the story could have used a bit of fleshing out.

I don't know whether it was just me, but none of the cutscenes played for me, including meeting the parents, finding the twins, and all of the videos. I missed them all. Nor is it a computer issue on my end. Also, I presume there was one at the end, which I also missed. That took a lot away from the game, as I missed out on quite a bit of story line.

Finding the required items was definitely a challenge, as there were always a lot of places to look, and the items were well-hidden. Using the items was reminiscent of an Adventure Game. The lack of hand-holding was a breath of fresh air.

Subsequent to the end of the main game, you unlock Dr. Haken's notebook by completing nine Hidden Object scenes, each in under five minutes. I did have to repeat several of these. Once again, the lack of cutscenes led to confusion regarding the story line. Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable game, and a fitting sequel to The Hookman.

I hesitate to criticize, because I'm unable to create such games. However, the graphics were poorly Photoshopped (the doors looked "pasted" on the walls rather than filling openings, the same items were in every room, and the perspective was mostly off). There was a lot of text between scenes, mostly in extremely poor English. As to gameplay, at times one item was so completely behind another that it was impossible to find without using a hint. I wouldn't recommend this game, but I would recommend that the creator refine his skills before releasing another.

I didn't mind or have trouble with the mini-games, except for one of the ones where you have to connect the roads. There's a bug, as it's impossible to complete; you have to skip it. I thought the overall story was decent, and the graphics had kind of a comic book creepy feel to them.