For the past few months, multiple developers have been releasing their own clones of Minecraft in an effort to provide Nintendo gamers with the closest approximation to that source material as possible. Though the concept may seem simple initially, most developers have failed to recreate it in any meaningful way, with performance issues and stripped-back features usually marring what would otherwise be a good start. Cube Life: Island Survival is not without some of these flaws, but it is certainly the best effort made so far, successfully managing to include most of the features of its inspiration while adding in a few new ones of its own, to varying degrees of success.
Right off the bat, Cube Life sets itself apart by actually introducing a light narrative. Most games in this genre typically start off with a silent protagonist with no backstory, but here we have one that's fully voice acted. The name of this character is never shared, but he quickly summarizes how he was a rich traveller who became shipwrecked on an island. The vocal protagonist is also used as a convenient vehicle to introduce a subtle tutorial system that organically informs the player of aspects of the game as they encounter them. Though the voice acting is pretty campy and sometimes the explanations of things can be a bit heavy-handed and patronizing, it nonetheless gives the overall experience more charm and also makes the avatar a bit more relatable and likeable.
Survival Mode is a surprisingly deep experience, with a robust crafting system, a handful of mobs that help to populate the world, and a spacious (yet segmented) map that offers plenty of room for exploration. One major thematic difference that sets Cube Life apart from its competitors is that the world is composed of a series of interconnected islands, rather than a large, central landmass. The decision to base the core game in a unique setting as opposed to yet another green valley or dry desert gives the overall atmosphere a pleasantly different flavour to its counterparts, and also serves as a clever way to lessen the obviousness of performance issues with draw distance and clipping, both of which are rather unfortunately present throughout the game. Graphics and sound are exactly what one would come to expect from a game like this, though the inclusion of more realistic effects like water surfaces and sunbeams clash with the simplistic nature of everything else.
The simple act of survival is perhaps more difficult and tense than ever before, though not necessarily in all the best ways. Cube Life has a very deep crafting system, though inventory management is hokey and archaic, making it a bit of a pain to fashion tools necessary to survive. And you'll be fashioning a lot of tools, too, as a tool breaks extremely quickly due to wear being measured by how long the strike button is held down, instead of by how many blocks are broken with it. Given that it takes some time to find the sturdier materials, it can be frustrating having to fashion new pickaxes after going through an entire inventory's worth every few minutes.
Balancing both hunger and thirst to keep health up is an interesting new mechanic, though it's made unnecessarily difficult by the time and save systems. Each night, creepy islanders emerge from the ocean and force you to either stand and fight endless waves of them all night or to retreat to a shelter. This is all well and good, but unless you spent the majority of the preceding day stocking up on food and fruit, you likely won't make it through the night without starving to death or dying of thirst, because the respective levels drop so quickly. This problem of nearly unavoidable death is compounded by the fact that the save mechanic takes a snapshot of the current game status when it saves, meaning that saving any time at night virtually locks that save file into a Sisyphean struggle to prevent the protagonist from dying before morning comes.
Creative Mode features all the amenities one would come to expect and ultimately stands as the better mode of the two. At the tap of a button, flight can be activated which allows the player to fly anywhere on the map, including through solid objects. This, coupled with just about any block being only a tap away, gives players full control over what they want to build and presents a hassle free experience. The one drawback is that there's no option to start on a flat map, so a bit of terraforming is required before one can really launch into building things.
Though certain concessions must be made considering the technical difficulty of map generation, it must be said that load times are particularly frustrating. Each time a map must be loaded players are kicked to a loading screen that takes roughly fifty seconds before the player sees any action. Loading screens show up every time the player dies and reloads a save, switches to another portion of the map in Survival, or opens a file in Creative or Survival. While there are some helpful crafting tips presented on each loading screen, they nonetheless rip the player out of the experience at an irritatingly high number of intervals.
Conclusion
Cube Life: Island Survival is the closest thing to Minecraft that any Indie has come to before on a Nintendo platform. Its imitation of the source material is admirable and it introduces a few new ideas that help differentiate it and make it a bit more than just another "me too" game. However, extremely long load times and a survival mode held back by some archaic design choices prevent this from being something truly great. At the end of the day, though, this is the best sandbox game on the Wii U yet, and fans looking to get their fix need to look no further.
Comments 78
"this is the best sandbox game on the Wii U yet"
Ahem, Don't Starve?
Yeah... I'm just going to just stick with Minecraft. Because at this point nearly EVERYONE should have access to Minecraft.
Got a Miiverse friend racing about how fun it is. Days in ways it's better then Minecraft. I'll have to check it out sometime. He does say it needs improvments but overall fun game.
I won this and we have had fun with it so far. Never playing Mine Craft means I dont fall into the trap of comparing the 2. I think it is well worth the current asking price but not the standard price after the promotional discount is gone....at least not yet. They are saying they will continue to support it with updates so maybe by years end it will be well worth the cost.
A summer blockbuster? I feel like punching someone.
Ahem AC4
You can play Minecraft even on a toaster. Who needs all these clones?
You may be able to play it on a toaster but not on a nintendo system. Does it use the gamepad well?
I was lucky enough to get a code for this but unfortunately I don't have an American Wii U or NNID to claim it on. Looks fun though.
Minecraft + shaders (3MB download on PC). Looks fun for those who don't have the real Minecraft, but I'll stick to my PC version.
@Moon
I do. ;D
Pretty dramatic trailer lol
I'll play Minecraft on all the other devices I have.
I've got to admit its nice for people who only have a Wii U but they could've differentiated a bit more...visually at least. You don't have to be a 1:1 clone. That and those Minecraft skins are so iconic and therefor I see them in almost every mobile game I see. Its a bit lazy imo.
@Timvp2120 Standard off tv play, it just mirrors the main screen.
@Moon If you still have the code I would be willing to take it off your hands.
It is beyond me how developers can get away with blatant rip offs like this without being shutdown and/or sued.
I prefer the tougher survival in this and there are quite a few surprises here and there, definitely a surprise and really enjoy it on the gamepad.
@HawkeyeWii I have this game and its not a 1:1 clone. Plus Minecraft isn't in development for Wii U and if it were they could make money from Nintendo owners. Its a genre that's popular right now, it was bound to happen. Well see if the other game is any better, when and if it releases.
No Multiplayer? I would only want this type of game if it had Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer would be preferred.
That trailer reminds me of Game of Thrones as Jorah Mormont and Tyrion Lannister headed to Meereen sailing through Valyria, when they were ambushed by the grey-scale stone men. Eerie.
No local multiplayer means no purchase.
I got bored of minecraft really quickly when playing alone.
This would end the same.
Maybe the developers should include an Easy mode for new players?
Hello all! We like the review. Regarding extremely long load times, such 3D open-world games do need extremely huge saves, thats why it takes so long...
@Gridatttack We are working on a local multiplayer which will be included in a first patch together with fixed issues. So, everybody who purchased the game at launch promo price $6.99 will get it for FREE. For new players, the game price will be higher.
@polarbear The game name is "Survival" not only for marketing reasons, but because the game is about surviving on an island with all of life's necessities: Food, water, shelter...
But you are right, we noticed that new players find it difficult, so we are going to run the official game Forum with many useful tip, trick, tutorials, videos for all players.
There will be a "Feature Requests" section where everyone can share its ideas and thoughts which can be implemented in future updates
I still don't get the appeal of mine craft, especially in an age where so many rave about high - quality graphics being a necessity...
Are those UK/EU prices correct? The US price equates to £4.50, the EU price equates to £10.12 and in the UK we have to pay £11.99? **** that. I was going to get this, but if we're going to be completely ripped off I'd rather spend the money on Lego Creator on PC.
As for Minecraft, according to my nephew's it's "rubbish" now and Terraria is where it's at! They know what's what.
@SeriousSam EU/UK prices here are standard prices. There will be a launch promotional discount, too. Here are the promo prices available at game launch:
£5.39/€6.99 for UK/EU
So, no worries
Ah right, that's cool then, as long as we're not being ripped off! I know there's issues with PEGI and USK, the sooner they get replaced by IARC the better.
@OddworldCrash no, fudge that. not buying that M$ crap. NTY.
This looks promising but I'll wait to see what U Craft produces before I take the plunge. I have more than enough to play currently and have never played Minecraft so I can wait for a while.
@Cypronia The load times seem reasonable to me. Bought it last night and had a great time playing with my 10 year old. Looking forward to the local multiplayer patch. Another great game from Cypronia. I previously purchased Color Zen, Color Zen Kids, and Cake Ninja and they have all been a blast and exceeded my expectations and the reviews. Thank you!
@Savino Thank you for supporting us!
We think we can do something with reflections. Maybe it helps to add more transparency (there is a little).
Local multiplayer is a must and will be implemented soon! Thanks!
I love this game. I love that it's hard. And I love that when I emailed @cypronia that they confirmed inverted controls for the first patch. Made the world map for fun and WOW; I will definitely get my $6 worth!!
@Cypronia Is there any way the saves could be compressed or optimized in a future update? It wouldn't be so bad if the load screens were just occasional, but having to sit through a load screen after every death or switched territory gets to be rather irritating.
@AtomicSoda Also great thanks! Cube Life exists thanks to the players like AtomicSoda, who supports us by purchasing and also letting us know they like what we do! Thank you!
@WhiteTrashGuy Yes, definitely! We get hundreds of emails/posts/comments every day which is a quite hard to reply to everybody in a short time, but on the other side you guys give us great feedback on new features, fixes, bugs and everything which may help to make the game even better... and we are happy to hear from you
I find the pricing interesting. $6.99 for US and £11.99 for UK. How does that work out?
@MitchVogel It is compressed even now. Without it we could not fit in to save data limit on the Wii U. As we announced, local multiplayer is the number #1 priority for us as well as fixing the bugs you discovered (Invert Y, bales of hay stuck, too much of reflection, better tool durability etc...).
When this is done, we try to do more optimization, maybe it helps.
Btw, maybe you noticed when you run Minecraft or Stone Shire, the game is still generating cubes in front of the player. We included this in "loading" screen... Maybe we could generate tiles the same way and save loading time?
@Blue_Rover EU/UK prices here are standard prices. There will be a launch promotional discount, too. Here are the promo prices available at game launch:
£5.39/€6.99 for UK/EU So, no worries
@MitchVogel Btw, we like the review. "this is the best sandbox game on the Wii U yet" we were proud to read it
@Moon: could I have the code then, please, if you're not going to use it?
@Cypronia I'd just like to congratulate you on this, it was a very well done game! Considering how you've committed to continually update this for the next several months, I look forward to what it holds in store.
@Cypronia It's nice to see a developer so active in this community! Just from how kind and professional you've been, it makes me want to give this game a chance because it seems like you truly care not only about your games, but about the people who play them!
@Cypronia I wasn't going to buy it based on the review, but your comments and plans make me want to change my mind. I'll be delighted to play local multiplayer on this! Plus, the survival aspects seem thrilling.
This sounds better and better, and with a multiplayer patch (and appearantly nice developers) I'll most likely pick this up when it launches in Europe!
good to hear! I also think the price on this is very good compared to hours and hours of enjoyment you can get from a title like this. I may get this but my Wii-U has a pretty thick layer of dust on it. I'm even thinking of trading it for a New 3DS and washing my hands of it.
@cypronia its great to see you guys jump in and be active with your game most devs don't do that kind of thing. I think its great. also don't listen to those "its a clone naysayers!" The Wii-U needed a game like Cube Life Island Survival and you were willing to take that chance and I for one thank you guys for doing it. Keep up the great work I hope to see more titles from you guys.
@cypronia Thanks for the free download of Cube Life. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, due to unfortunate circumstances that's happened in my life recently, but once I get settled in my next place, I'll try it out...
@-Godot
Not everybody. I, for one, don't own an XBox or PS. And I ain't payin' money for that crap on my computer.
@Cypronia My kids are Minecraft fanatics and once they saw the trailer for Cube Life: Island Survival they wanted it. I was on the fence if I was gonna to buy it or not, but after reading your comments. I decided to buy the game, and very happy to support your company.
@freaksloan Thank you for supporting us! Do not forget that you bought the game at a promo launch price and it means that you will get an update with online multiplayer for free!
This is my first attempt at anything Minecraft and it's pretty good.
What I think needs improvement:
-Need to be able to reverse the vertical axis so it's as God intended. Drives me nuts.
-The load times are a little crazy in this day and age but not a dealbreaker.
-You shouldn't have to be constantly eating/drinking through out the night to stay alive. Never in my life have I heard of someone dropping dead cause they didn't eat 2 dozen mangos.
-Maybe a little better frame rate?
Keep up the good work!
There is enough Minecraft clones, ripoffs and ports at this point. If I want to play Minecraft, I'll play it on PC.
@engfant Hello. Thank you for improvements:
1) Sure! Will be available in the first patch v1.1
2) we have just optimized that and loading time takes 30% faster!
3) Maybe you are right, but remember, this is a survival game on tropical island. Coconuts are the best source of water supply. Not mangos
4) there will be a "enable/disable reflections" button which adds 20% to FPS
Hi Cypronia.
I'm starting the game and I really like it. There are somethings that maybe will be good to include like crafting a bed for spending the night, like other comment above is really hard to stay all night eating a dozen of mangos/cocos to survive, so far this is my only complain XD.
Is really cool that a developer take our opinions in consideration.
@Cypronia Bought it and tried it 2 hours yesterday.
My impressions are : it's a really good surprise even if there are bugs to fix. Sounds and ambiance are well made. I'm really looking forward to playing it tonight. My advice is : keep improving it but stay in something enough different than minecraft. Put it your style !
Here are my request for now :
That all for now.
Thanks for this game and keep up the good work !
P.S : you should go to the forum to see some other impressions on your game and bugs that are found.
@Josh_K Cube Life is survival game, thats why it is a bit harder
You can build a shelter on Coconut trees, and craft, get coconuts for water supply, craft and do other preparations during night
@gurtifus Thank you all for your support!
yeah, keep improving it, a local multiplayer is coming soon.
1) OK
2) Yes, the block have different durability. It is very hard to destroy a stone block, gold block etc.
3) it makes an advantage for you player during fight and so
THanks!
@Cypronia ok I understand the concept but: Do you sleep at night ? or you stay awake working?, maybe some days you can work and other days you can sleep, if the game goal is to make it real then you need to sleep also. Oh I almost forget it, a lot of people seems to need doors lol .
By the way nice game, I hope this continue better and better.
@Cypronia I agree with Josh_K, there could be a stamina bar which is depleted when you walk, work, etc... and which would fill in only when you sleep.
And yes we need door and ladder !
Yeah, I really looking forward to playing with my children in this local multiplayer mode ! Hope it will be released soon !
I started playing it and had to look up how to craft using the highlight item and tap the screen technique on a game forum. Then i died during the night and it froze my wiiu on the 'you died' screen. Had to reboot my system. I really wish there was a difficulty option. I like playing minecraft survival mode on peaceful, just have to worry about surviving not fighting for my life every night.
@Cypronia Just want to say that I bought it, is good, lots of fun, and looking forward to the updates. Only few things:
Just some ideas, hope I didn't bore you, lol.
Definitely going to pick this one up. I'm not a big fan of creating but I like the idea of a more tangible narrative in the survival mode, which is the only way I play these games. One question, if you don't mind: When you mentioned local multiplayer did you mean for both modes? Thank you!
@Cypronia LOCAL multiplayer? You also promised ONLINE multiplayer, before...
@Cypronia ... Once you guys add online multiplayer, I'm all in!!! ... But for now, Ima' stand down. Hope you guys add it soon! And good luck!
I am approaching Day 50 in the game. I have had a blast with this title. The only suggestion I have, that I have not already seen mentioned, is that the cannibals are FAR too powerful.
I would love to be able to put up a fair fight in a secured building. As it is, I have survived by making a spiral staircase 24 blocks high (2 block tall steps to keep the cannibals from jumping) and then a platform that goes far away from the staircase. So i sat at the far end of the platform every night to keep the cannibals directly under me just circling and not damaging my structure or shooting through my walls. I thought I could take some supplies out to sea and be safe, but they swam out into the open sea and shot me!
Please make them more manageable! Thanks!
Now that I am used to the up/down not being reversed I'm spending a good amount of time with this game. Good times! It's my only access to Minecraft and recommend it to all that are in the same boat. Although I'm able to live through the night and not starve it's still too crazy. You'll all of a sudden be dying because you were too busy building to notice your thirst is at 0. Also the cannibals are able to shoot arrows through stone walls which is a little irritating.
@Cypronia Sweet. I'm playing a lot of this game and I don't have much time to play anything. Good stuff!
I get it, its survival but needs to be toned down a tad. Maybe for the first 5 days or so so you can at least gather some supplies? The cannibals are just way to strong and fast, out running them is near impossible. I found the underground "room" but gathering enough water to survive the night is too much. I like to play a game and win but also take the time to enjoy the graphics, game play and discovery. With Minecraft you can at least do that. Maybe a peaceful mode so a player can choose to just have a little fun before taking on the blood bath? Otherwise the game is pretty cool. Definitely has potential.
OK so I am updating my comment a little. Played it again today and actually really enjoyed it. Started a new game, went right to collecting coconuts, mango's and wood. Got as many as I could then went straight to the top of the mountain (near the torch showing you where an "underground room" is) and climbed the highest tree (using block steps). Hollowed my way into the center, broke down the staircase and waited. I cleared out the whole top of the tree making a platform with a 1 block high railing around it so I could watch. At dark they came and couldn't get to me! Success! So this is where I built my shelter. Once I got through that first night everything got much easier, there was hope! I can even stand at the edge and kill them with my ax as they run around me, careful though because if you fall you take a heavy hit and better be ready to run. They leave at 5:00 so I usually start hitting them around 4:30 in case I fall I don't have too long to run before they head off. I was even able to collect a bone this way and make an arrow. Not sure how to make string, I am assuming spider but have not gone to far down into a cave yet. Made rope but besides a hay bale (which I'm not sure what use that is yet) there is nothing else to do with it. Looking forward to update. Hoping for ladders (a rope one would be ideal!) and maybe some furniture making abilities as well as more animals. I am a Minecraft player and have to say this is more fun with much better graphics. Game play is nice too, easy to control and switch up when crafting. Hopefully the updates will make this game even better.
@Cypronia I just wanted to say I bought this game having never played Minecraft but was interested in it due to all the clamor. I really avoid 8 bit games as I get frustrated at these types of games on current gen systems. However, seeing how few decent 3d games Wii U has it was a nice surprise. I tried the demo of Stoneshire and with only watching a nephew play this on my Wii U and hearing his comments and me playing literally for just a few minutes this is a much better game. All the additions people are asking for sound great. I look forward to local co op as well. Also, I thought I read somewhere there was going to be options to try to befriend some natives and build alliances, etc. Is that a reality? Anyway thanks for the game and the feedback here on the page. Developer feedback and interaction is awesome and raises my respect for you guys ten fold. I also have Cake Ninja for Wii U and it is a kick! God bless and thanks again!
Bought it and tried it. Not very good in my opinion, and would rather have Minecraft.
Hi all,
i found two bugs.
First: When i am mining very deep all is good. But when i load my savegame next time, the mine is flooded with water
I see, that this bug will be fixed in the next upate, is this correct?
second: the enemies with bows and arrows. i quickly died. so i decided to build a house of stone blocks. i tooks me 4 days to build it. The result is, that arrows can fly through stone... very dissapointing
i hope you can fix this @Cypronia
@Cypronia Thank you!! And thank goodness invert Y is coming!! I bought the game yesterday and was disappointed that it wasn't there. I can get by for now but it's not comfortable playing without it.
So I have had enjoyment playing this game. It is quite a refreshing spin on minecraft. While the creative mode in minecraft far exceeds cube life, the survival mode is something that is a challenge, but fun. However, a couple things. For one, it is too easy for the cannibals to kill you. I buried myself deep in a cave surrounded by stone about 10 blocks deep with a spiraling stair case. The found me. SO then, I made one going upwards and they were still killing me even from the outside of the blockade even though it was at least or 3 blocks deep. SO now, I have found refuge in the island immediately south of the main island, building a bridge from the island itself to the edge where the main island is so I can literally get into the section of the map and hop on the bridge to protect myself from the sharks. However, it is a pain when I am on the opposite side of the map to get there before dark. Also, the rafts break WAY to easy and sharks are way too overpopulated and aggressive. However, the most frustrating thing to me is that I am stuck. I seem to hit a wall when I try to explore beyond 3 blocks south and 2 blocks any other direction. I have found silver, coal, and iron (apparently I have found all the iron as I cannot locate anymore). Therefore, I would like to find diamonds and gold and continue on my quest to finding my home. If I don't get an answer soon as to how to unlock these blocks on the map, I will be forced to quit. I have a colored local map, the global map, and the compass and have created countless rafts for this. I need to be able find out if there is something I am doing wrong or something i need to accomplish in order to move on. I will eventually run out of resources. Please help. I am on day 78 and am getting very frustrated.
what's the deal with silver ore? I found some but cannot mine it?
Whicch better this or cube creator 3D?
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