SuperHyperCube PlayStation VR Review

PlayStation VR has introduced a crop of new types of games to the masses, ranging from “experiences” to twists on contemporary genres.  Kokoromi’s SuperHyperCube is definitely of the latter, a modern puzzler that takes elements from some of the very best games in the genre.  If you took one part Super Hexagon, mixed it with one part Tetris, and then doused it with Lysergic Acid Diethylamide you have SuperHyperCube.

It’s a pretty simple game, really.  Your objective is to manipulate a constantly evolving cube through an incoming wall.  The more walls you pass through, the more complex the object manipulation gets.  Wearing the PlayStation VR headset and using the Dualshock Controller, you can rotate the cube in any direction you want.  Said cube is right in front of your face, and you must peer around it to get a look at the upcoming wall/hole that you must pass through.  Once you’re confident that you’ve got the shape matched up with the wall/hole you can speed up this process and push through quickly with a boost.  Boosting not only pushes you through the wall faster, but also fills a gauge for your power-ups, and is the reward for figuring out a solution quickly.

While that’s pretty easy in the early stages, you’ll need all the time the game gives you to figure out the puzzles as they become more and more complex.  This is done by adding cubes to the shape that you’re controlling and making the hole/wall more complex as well.  As the shape becomes bigger and bigger, you’ll need to move around it to see the incoming wall and try to decipher a solution before you crash into it and ultimately fail.  There’s more than one solution for any given wall, and it’s all about figuring out these growingly complex spatial puzzles, while also pushing for higher scores.  SuperHyperCube is both simple and complex, frustrating and elating — in other words, a great puzzle game.

Of the launch titles for PlayStation VR, SuperHyperCube, simple as it is, feels the most gamey of the bunch.  It’s the type of puzzle game that prods you to play it just one more time, hoping that you’ll pass a friend on the leaderboards, or set a new personal best.  It doesn’t hurt that it looks and sounds amazing as well.  Leaning heavily on a neon-drenched, 70’s sci-fi aesthetic, SuperHyperCube is beautiful and being inside this creation is astounding at times.  Pitch perfect audio captures the highs and lows of your solutions or miscalucations subtly.  SuperHyperCube’s visual design takes advantage of the limitations of the PlayStation VR hardware, oddly enough.  You never seem to notice the resolution limitations of the PlayStation VR when playing this game as you do in others, making it one of the best looking games available for the hardware.  It’s certainly a brilliant trick by the developers, whether intentional or not.

SuperHyperCube’s score attack draw will certainly have you pressing that button for one more try more often than not, but it’s also a good pick up and play title for shorter play sessions.  The nature of the game and the difficulty ramp leads to relatively quick games for the average player.   It’s a good showpiece game for virtual reality and especially on the PlayStation VR.  It looks great, there’s a great sense of being in this completely foreign environment and you’re actively interacting using both your body and the game controller.  On a personal note, I’ve had trouble with some games in virtual reality in terms of getting motion sickness from them.  SuperHyperCube delightfully did not make me feel this way.  Since games on the PlayStation VR seem to be having different affects on different people, this may not apply to you, but I think the simplistic nature of the game really helps in this regard.

The Verdict

Brillance in simplicity, SuperHyperCube is one of the better launch titles for the PlayStation VR headset due to its impressive presentation and compelling score attack gameplay.