CubicMan Deluxe

Well over 3,000 years ago, the sun god Ra turned his eye on the blossoming Egyptian civilization as hundreds of thousands of workers raised the pyramids. Today, the all-seeing eye has set its sights on iPhone.

In CubicMan Deluxe, the goal is to position a rectangular prism known as a 'cuboid' upright on a designated destination point. Sliding your finger across the screen rolls the rectangle on both long and short sides along a stone pathway. You can't allow the cuboid to fall off the pathway, otherwise the stage resets. As such, you have to figure out an optimal path that keeps the cuboid in play and stands it upright on the destination square all in as few moves as possible.

After solving the first few stages, the difficulty melts away as you begin to wrap your brain around how to effectively complete each level. Efficient puzzle solving in CubicMan Deluxe involves a lot of forward thinking. Quickly travelling through a stage only racks up moves and often leaves you stuck. Tight passageways, teleports, and toggled platforms demand a bit of forethought in order to avoid getting stuck or having to back up and add moves to your total.

Instead of loading up stages with tons of objects, switches, and other arbitrary obstacles, the design takes on a sleek, focused approach. Most puzzles only contain a couple of well-placed transport squares that point you in the right direction. It's near impossible to get lost thanks to the game's straightforward design that never teases you with false solutions.

Intuitive use of the touchscreen also helps make CubicMan Deluxe easy to get into. You can play with one hand, if you want, flicking your thumb to move the cuboid as your iPhone rests in your palm. Some awkwardness arises when dealing with the camera. Tapping the edges of the screen allows you to pan the stage, although it's more of a hassle than it's worth. Often, you end up accidentally moving the cuboid instead of panning the view. There's also a zoom option, although it's completely unnecessary since the default view gets the job done.

The game packs in a whopping 80 stages, so even though it only includes a single mode of play CubicMan Deluxe is still a fantastic value at GBP 1.79/USD 2.99. Online high score rankings or some second mode of play would bump the game up a notch, certainly. Great visuals and plenty of gameplay get it far, establishing this pleasant title a spot among the ranks of worthwhile iPhone originals.