Graphics: The clearest explanation for ZooCube‘s zany story comes from the graphics. In what is essentially a shape-matching game, the developers concocted the animal motif to ensure a visually interesting experience. Each shape, from the leopard box to the hippo ball, is a distinct, colorful and imaginative conception. Even with over 40 animal shapes and items, there is little chance of confusing one for another; that’s admirable design, and it’s critical in this genre. The backgrounds for each level are beautiful, subtly animated landscapes, which are just detailed enough to be interesting, yet do not obscure the foreground action. And finally, there are the animals themselves: Whenever you match a pair of shapes, that animal pops forth with a joyful cry and a cute animated sequence before fading away. For a puzzle game, ZooCube oozes plenty of style to accompany its substance.

Interface: Such a pretty release, but such an infuriating interface. Who knew menu navigation could be so confusing? Items are poorly named (the main menu has Tutorial, Help, Configuration and Information; which is what?), the “rotating” behavior of the menus is disorienting, and it takes five choices to begin a game! Luckily, things are slightly better on the playfield; as said, the animal shapes are clearly rendered. Unfortunately, the weak interface shows up in the memory card system, too. Zoocube will load automatically, but it will not save in turn. You must drill through the menus yourself each time you want high scores and unlocked features retained for posterity.

Gameplay: While the falling block concept has been beaten to death, ZooCube‘s 3D playfield, excellent atmosphere, and responsive control manage to make a unique experience. Still, like so many puzzlers that have followed in Tetris‘ wake, ZooCube does not have the profound simplicity of the old block-matcher. Sure, the concept is simple, but the promise of pick-up-and-play is not quite there. First of all, it will take a couple of hours to master the three-dimensional movement of your cube, and even experts will panic when they mistakenly rotate along the wrong axis. Also, the scoring system is immensely complex and bonuses pop up constantly: 500 points, 2x multiplier, Juggling Bonus. More often than not, these kudos come accidentally. It’s like mashing out a new combo in a fighting game — it looks very cool, but you have no idea how you did it. You have to become incredibly, perhaps impossibly, skilled in order to keep track of all the variables. The gameplay, therefore, seems to test your filing and collating skills, rather than any strategic ability. It is still a lot of fun, but instead of a more complex scoring system, the designers should have striven for more strategic play variety.

Multiplayer: ZooCube‘s art direction was carefully built around making the pieces crystal clear for someone with the entire screen at their disposal. Once you dive into multiplayer, your view is immediately one-quarter the size, and you’ll spend a lot of time squinting. Most of the shapes are still distinct at the reduced size, but the fun definitely takes a hit. If you’re looking to compete against a friend, you might do better to simply take turns with the main game and compare high scores. However, collaborative play is a very interesting mode. Instead of concentrating solely on your situation, most of the animal shapes you need will actually be delivered to your friends’ cubes. By shuffling these flashing pieces, your friends can deliver these pieces to you, and you can deliver pieces to them. If you don’t successfully exchange shapes, everyone’s up the creek. In collaborative mode, all of the players are competing for the same high score; if one cube tanks, they all tank. This teamplay saves the multiplayer mode from being a complete washout, but ZooCube is still better suited to one player.

Sound FX: The sound effects do a good job of conveying the action without getting annoying. Since this is a puzzle title, you really can’t ask for much more. There are rotation, shuffling, and explosion sounds to compliment the variety of chirps, moos, and grunts you’ll hear every time you clear a pair of animals. Almost as careful as the art design are the animal noises; and what could have been an intolerably repetitive cacophony is, instead, unobtrusive and even charming.

Musical Score: The music is standard puzzler fare. The soundtrack is composed of light, peppy instrumental tunes with a “tropical” flair. They do the job of filling the silence, and that’s all. It’s doubtful you’ll be humming anything from ZooCube on the way to work.

Intelligence & Difficulty: ZooCube starts off a little too slow, but there’s plenty of fast paced action for those who dare to skip ahead. The first three levels will allow you to be a little messy with your animal matching, but after that, the action finally starts humming. Gradually, new animal shapes and new drop directions are introduced, providing you with additional twists in the higher levels. The difficulty curve is just right.

Overall: Rejoice, for the GameCube has a puzzle game, a good one, and an exclusive one at that. With a 3D twist on the falling block idea, ZooCube carves out its own identity in the genre. The organization-heavy gameplay and the delightful animal theme are its two most outstanding areas. The controls are responsive, the falling shapes are easy to tell apart, and for the most part, your goals are clear, despite an arbitrarily complex scoring system. However, this title could have used a bit more variety, as the additional play modes fall flat, and the multiplayer angle is a little disappointing. In all, though, this is a fun puzzler that’s more than worth any genre fan’s time.