Cube Life: Pixel Action Heroes Review

Cube Life: Pixel Action Heroes is a rather interesting first person shooter developed by Cypronia for the Nintendo Wii U. Though certain aspects of the game (namely its visuals) are completely unoriginal, many other aspects work to make Cube Life a truly unique title. Cube Life: Pixel Action Heroes crams a lot of content into one game, meaning it should appeal to gamers of all types.

This game’s visuals appear to be stolen entirely from Minecraft, which makes it easy to write off as a knock-off at first glance. However, despite this fact, the game’s levels are still very well designed, with each stage having its own unique flavor. It is true that these levels could have probably been independently built in Minecraft, but this makes the level design no less impressive. These visuals are met with rather fitting audio additions, including upbeat music and an intense announcer’s voice. While these aspects of the game are both fine, it is the gameplay which truly transforms Cube Life into something spectacular.

The theme of this game appears to be based off of classic 80s action films. As a result, many of the characters are based off of 80s actions heroes, like Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others. In addition, Cube Life features a few seemingly out of place heroes, based off of characters like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Hulk Hogan, and even United States President Donald Trump. And on top of this, the game provides the player with three customs skins which they can edit. All of these create a diverse and humorous cast. Of course, none of the characters have any different abilities, so character choice is entirely arbitrary, but the thought of playing as Donald Trump in a video game is exciting enough to make this worthwhile.

The first person gameplay of Cube Life: Action Heroes is truly phenomenal. While its game physics also seems to mirror those of Minecraft, this game has a variety of game modes which truly make it stand out. In Practice mode, players can run around a map, collecting up to four weapons/other items and attacking CPU players. The player has a limited amount of lives, as do the CPU players, so the goal is effectively to be the last one to survive. In this mode, every map is entirely destructible, allowing the player to create their own unique pathways by effectively digging through any part of the map. Things are a little bit different in Zombie mode, as the player cannot the destroy the map, and can only carry three weapons/items besides a relatively useless shovel. The player must survive as many waves of zombies as possible with limited healing opportunities in what is usually a smaller, more contained area. This mode does not really allow for hiding, so contact with the zombies is necessary, benefitting players with a more aggressive approach.

If the intense single player gameplay is not enough for the player, this game also supports online multiplayer. As a result, players can take the skills they developed offline and fight against friends or other players across the world, testing which of their game strategies works best. This game also features a ranking system to measure each player’s online performance. In addition, players can create and their own levels and then play on these levels in single player or multiplayer.

Despite its uncomfortably familiar graphics, Cube Life: Pixel Action Heroes features hardcore music and gameplay which contribute to an overall exciting experience. Whether playing alone or with others, any gamer is in for a good time whenever they decided to play its game. While its depth is not quite as much as it could be, there is no doubt that Cube Life: Pixel Action Heroes provides hours upon hours of action-packed fun.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo Wii U code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.