PEGBRJE: Cube Rampage and Neocolonialism
Well, these aren’t very similar to each other.
Cube Rampage is a physics puzzle-like game made by Kronbits, a 2D indie dev and asset artist that was previously known to the bundle thanks to the earlier entry Inkanians. In this title, players are attempting to collect all of the squares through a terrifying display of physics and bullet time.
As suggested by the name, Cube Rampage gives players the ability to go utterly ballistic via the cube ‘protagonist’. As the player, the cube is thrust through the air via a physics-based system somewhat similar to the stereotypical golfing mechanic. Players hover their cursor behind the cube, indicated by the yellow line, and the cube is thrust in the opposite direction shown by the red. There’s no dragging the cursor back thankfully, and it is instead based on the distance from the cube that he player clicks — there’s even a massive circle connecting the two lines to give a general sense of how much power is put into every shot. Once the cube is sent, it becomes a chaotic mess as while the ‘shots’ counter indicates that it may play similar to golf, it very much doesn’t; this is real time. Players can use their shots while mid air to bend the cube around and send it in different directions to collect the squares. This obviously sounds hard to follow, so there’s a little helping mechanic in the Bullet Time meter, indicated at the bottom. Holding the A button uses the meter to slow everything down, allowing for better precision on shots. This doesn’t stop the momentum from causing all sorts of hilarious problems, however, as I easily missed many squares simply because I didn’t take into account how fast I was going beforehand.
At first Cube Rampage seems relatively straight forward, requiring all cubes to be acquired before the timer runs out and giving out stars based on speed and shot count. As seen before, simplicity always gives way to new mechanics, and with the addition of obstacles to avoid the game becomes so much more challenging as momentum can cause the cube to go into the red zones very easily. Bullet time is easily wasted as well if not careful, and since it’s only replenished upon going to the next level or retrying, that precious resource is something to always be aware of — especially since the squares have very specific hit boxes, making getting in range to acquire very difficult if off by just a smidge.
Once you get going, however, the rampage of Cubes will begin and the flow will feel amazing, knocking objects into others to break through and reach the other squares and precisely slowing down time to get that last square before the timer runs out. It’s oddly addicting thanks to the chaos, and if that’s something you’re looking for I highly recommend it. There are only thirty levels, so the fun might run out a little faster than expected, but those thirty levels won’t be easy. Have fun!
Neocolonialism is a destructive 4X strategy simulation made by Seth Alter, an indie dev with forays in many different games media. In this, players are also doing a kind of foray, but instead of into fun creative spaces they are instead making inroads into the geopolitical system in an attempt to suck the world’s money dry by any means necessary before the time runs out. Almost like we’re neocolonialists or something.
As it is with management simulations, it’s a bit hard to fully grasp all the intricacies within a short manner. As a multibillionaire banker, the goal is to make inroads in each political region of the world to successfully rule over each area, building it up before liquidating everything and hiding it away in the secret Swiss Bank account. To do so, players need to buy out votes during the Investment Phase, buying off politicians with the money made from previous rounds of global economic control. Once every player has passed, the Policy phase begins where regions with more than 3 ‘bought out politicians’ will call an election to determine Prime Minister. Will players vote against themselves to allow for the enemy to gain PM, or stalemate the vote so nobody can be PM? Being Prime Minister is a massive boon to the player, for after the votes they gain the ability to propose drastic economic changes such as free trade agreements with other regions to bolster turn-based revenue, bolster the local economy via mines or factories, or fully liquidate all votes and hide the money away. Not being Prime Minister means that the opponent gets to decide these events and the player can only vote on them to agree or attempt a stall. Or, players could get sneaky and simply sell their votes and have the opponent become a dictatorship, possibly inciting a military coup.
If this sounds absolutely exploitative, then the name must’ve slipped by because that’s the point. These people at the top (aka who the players are imitating) aren’t here to be helpful but to successfully manipulate the world’s markets in order to satisfy themselves. If one recalls, there was a browser game that came out back in the mid 2000s called “Pandemic 2”, a 4X game about becoming a virus and infecting the world whilst ensuring that a vaccine couldn’t stop it. While those memories are now a bit stained with realism (thanks, COVID) I immediately associated these two titles together for their simple approach of putting massive emphasis on the Exploit feature of the 4X genre. It’s all about subverting laws and allies, ensuring that nobody can compete with the player, using tactics that we’d find normal in a game that would be considered straight market manipulation within the real world. Because it is.
The final nail in the coffin of proof comes in the final phase of the three phase system; the manipulation of the International Monetary Fund. This phase has a random player take control of this fictional regulatory body, where a crisis is going on within a certain region. Thing is, the IMF has powers that supercede the Prime Minister of that region, meaning that they can upgrade buildings to factories, devalue buildings to mines, issue embargos, and even force trade agreements between two areas. This power can be abstained, but why would one bother giving away a turn that allows them to actually screw over an opponent, or bolster their own region if they should be so lucky?
The headline that comes with the game explains it all: “ruin everything”. The point is to view the world as one would in a 4X game, where the exploration is unnecessary, the expansion happens subtly, the exploitation is everything and the extermination is silent. You might not feel great after playing if easily jaded, and you’ll especially feel terrible if playing against other people as in these kinds of scenarios it will play like a game of Monopoly: the winner doesn’t feel good, but the losers are throwing the board across the room.
This isn’t to say that the game plays poorly, for the systems in place allow for some serious subterfuge and political bargaining if in a multiplayer setting. But just like with Neocolonialism, even if you think you’re winning, you’re really not; everyone else is just losing.
