''ZooCube'' is a 2.5D

puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by PuzzleKings and released in 2002 by

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally founded by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes, and Jim Scoroposki from a storefront in Oyster Bay in 1987, the company built a global develop ...

. It was the first puzzle game for the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

. It was also released for

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

in 2006 in Europe by Midas Interactive Entertainment.

Gameplay

In ''ZooCube'', players score points by matching animal heads that fall towards the faces of a rotatable cube. The player also needs to make matches quickly so that heads don't build up too much on the cube which can cause the player to lose, in a similar fashion to

Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...

. Along the way, the player can acquire

power-ups In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chose ...

which can help the player in various way or hinder an opponent in multiplayer mode.

Plot

A mad scientist named Dr. Buc Ooze has been conducting "controversial research into animal shaping" and has left many animals misshapen or in otherwise unnatural forms. In response, a machine called the "ZooCube" is created which reverses the effects Dr. Ooze's experiments. The player, named "Aon", is tasked with rescuing all the trapped animals, traveling aboard a "flying ark" and armed with the "ZooCube".

Development

According to Nalin Sharma, the designer of ''ZooCube'' and CEO of PuzzleKings, he came up with the idea for ''ZooCube'' around 1996, while working for

PA Consulting Group PA Consulting Group (formerly Personnel Administration) is a professional services firm that works with public, private and third-sector organisations. It was founded in 1943 by Ernest E. Butten, Tom H. Kirkham and Dr David Seymour, who used a ...

as a principal consultant. He was imagining how, "some thing or someone could survive if they were bombarded by lots of objects", which inspired some rough sketches that featured a cube as a central object. Nalin thought the idea had potential and soon began development of a game based on his sketches, entitled "Cubic Jiggler". Development started off poorly, because while Nalin had experience with

C++ C++ (, pronounced "C plus plus" and sometimes abbreviated as CPP or CXX) is a high-level, general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup. First released in 1985 as an extension of the C programmin ...

, he lacked sufficient knowledge of 3D game development. He also had no 3D graphics card, which were relatively new at the time. However, despite these setbacks, the game was eventually completed after 3 years in development, with the help of the

Direct3D Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware ...

graphics

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

, as well as a 3D graphics chip lent to him by

3dfx 3dfx Interactive, Inc. was an American computer hardware company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the f ...

. Nalin submitted the game into a competition held by the magazine

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

and won, after which he partnered with Acclaim Entertainment to give his game a commercial release. Shortly thereafter, the game was work shopped in order to, "give it a marketing edge and broaden its appeal". Along the way, the title was changed to ''ZooCube'', which would eventually be the title under which the game finally saw commercial release in 2002.

Reception

''ZooCube'' received mixed to positive reviews. It has a score of 67% on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'' wrote that ''ZooCube'' was "everything a puzzle game should be: simple, fast, hard, fun, addictive and serviceably pretty." ''ZooCube'' received two E3 awards in 2002. The first was "Best Puzzle Game for GBA" which was awarded to the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

release by

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

, while the

release was awarded "Best Puzzle Game" by Planet Gamecube.

References

External links

*
Zoocube.net
{{Graphic State 2002 video games Acclaim Entertainment games Game Boy Advance games GameCube games Graphic State games Midas Interactive Entertainment games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 2 games Puzzle video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom