Watch out Sonic, Q-Bert is in Da House

Intro:

Q-Bert is a videogame character that a lot of gamers can’t forget. I remember as a young child I played Q-Bert once or twice on my Atari. It wasn’t my type of game and I quickly grew bored of playing it. I decided to give the Q-Bert saga another try, so I bought the Dreamcast version from my friend for $5. To no surprise I found the game to be dull and a waste of my five bucks, oh well at least I have a fancy coaster.

Gameplay:

There’s no real story behind Q-Bert, none that I know of at least. The intro starts out with Q-Bert, a creepy looking orange ball with a big snout, flying around in this little community that is made out of cubes. All of a sudden something goes wrong and everything is destroyed. Then you are tossed into this world full of structures made out of colorful cubes and villains.

Q-Bert is classified as a puzzle game. I think of it as an action/puzzle game. First let me begin with the modes. You have the choice of playing adventure, original, or two-player versus. In the adventure mode you have to complete 6 or so stages, and each one is made up of a number of cube levels (the ones you actually play in). Here you chase around another character. Well after you hop into a blue orb, you are thrown into a level full of cubes that form some sort of bizarre structure. Each level starts out with a specific color for the cubes, for example let’s say it’s purple. When you enter the level the cubes now turn red, your goal is to change the cubes back to purple. This is accomplished by jumping on top of the cube, thus changing the color. Do it for all the designed cubes and the level is completed.

Okay, the idea of the game sounds stupid. Things get interesting when obstacles and enemies are added to the mix. Instead of a walk in the park, the game becomes quite complicated. You are now faced with several problems, like falling balls from the sky, snakes that chase you around, and vicious little dogs that try to bite you. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that you can also fall off the cubes and plummet into empty space. The presence of enemies and obstacles really gives Q-Bert a fun environment. Not only are you trying to change the color of the cubes, but you must also dodge enemies, take shortcuts, and use power-ups to complete the levels. This is where the puzzle factor comes in. You have to think quickly on where to move and how you must dodge your enemies. The action part is in effect because you’re jumping around every which way to stay alive.

The original mode is taken straight from the original Q-Bert. The only thing that’s different is that the speed is significantly decreased and the action is much slower. It was nice that this was added, but this mode does nothing to enhance the overall game. I found it to be too slow and it wasn’t as exciting as the adventure mode. The 2-player mode is okay. Each player has their own little area where they must change their cubes, and all the crazy action is still intact.

When I played the Dreamcast version of Q-Bert I couldn’t really get any rhythm with the controller. Moving Q-Bert around the 3D cubes was a little tricky (I kept falling off the cubes). After about 30 minutes I started to get the movements down and was able to move around with ease. You don’t have to memorize button functions because all you use is the A button and directional pad.

Now here’s my reason I can’t recommend Q-Bert. The gameplay at times can become addicting; but after you play a level once you won’t want to play it again. Further in the game the level design does become more diverse; just don’t expect it to be totally different. The main flaw I found with the game is replay value. I’ve had this game for about two months and have just played it a couple times. No matter how hard I try I can’t really get into the gameplay and actually finish the game. It’s way too repetitive for me.

Graphics:

Wow, a Dreamcast game with no slowdown, pop-up, draw-in, or fog. Wait a minute I forgot this is Q-Bert. The blurry intro movies sums up the game’s look. The menu screen has some color, but ultimately it’s lacking in style. The levels are made out of colored cubes. The animations are basic: Q-Bert jumps and on occasion does a flip. The backgrounds contain funky colors and different types of shapes spinning.

Sound:

I didn’t even bother putting the volume on my television when I popped Q-Bert in for the first time. I knew what to expect. When I did listen to the game my ears were almost bleeding. Okay it’s not that bad, but it sure gets annoying. The background music sounds like it’s been stolen from a jungle tribe. The sound effects are repetitive; what do you expect from a game that requires you to jump from cube to cube the whole time. The only thing I found worth hearing are the out of this world noises Q-Bert makes when he dies.

Overall:

Q-Bert is nonetheless a decent Dreamcast distraction. It just doesn’t have that long lasting appeal that other puzzle games boast. The gameplay has its fair share of moments, but its tasteless graphics, dreadful music, and repetitive gameplay makes Q-Bert an unfulfilling gaming experience.