At the time of writing, the online community is growing slowly and steadily, but those that are on it are essentially masters of the game. I especially found it interesting to deploy them just to see how they’d react to specific types of environments. At least we’re not trapped in place Cubemen 2 allows us to move around our units at will, and to even send some out on their own. It takes time to learn the troop selection, and we don’t always get that. For one, we don’t always know what the strengths and weaknesses of the units are until we deploy them, and by then we realize that we’re wasting resources spawning and placing the wrong kinds. At times when enemies pour out of their portals we want the game to be more action-oriented, at others we want it slower and to place a deliberate emphasis on strategy. This is a deep, methodical game, and shouldn’t be considered for casual gamers. Cubemen 2 is a very meticulous tower defense game it asks us to do a lot at once, to know exactly where our troops are on the play field and how they will react, and to keep track of our opponent’s progress. For those of us uninitiated in the genre it can take several tries to survive through just one of the campaign levels, and we’re forced to refine our play style and tactics until we finally understand what to do to complete the tasks and make it through. In the end, the tutorials are more of a grind than a learning experience. The two tutorial campaigns are short, but are only there to help us learn our way around the UI and to get us working efficiently. Veterans of strategy tower defense games will feel right at home. Speed is as important as troop placement here, and knowing when to drop a gunner is just as necessary as where. This variety will keep us coming back, and may be enough to overlook the unfortunate issues the game has with controls.Ĭubemen 2 doesn’t take long to throw us into its hectic play mechanic. I can have epic battles or small singular skirmishes. I play across Game of Throne’s Wall and through a baseball diamond. I move from one world shaped like an 8-bit eagle sprite to a medieval castle that spans several floors. Because of that, the content that players of the game have put together is already extensive. The worlds can be saved locally and uploaded to the Cubemen servers, available to not only players on the Wii U, but also those on Steam and iOS. Just a few taps on the screen and we’re quickly painting images that our troops will travel on. It looks pretty on a big TV, though may feel extremely constrained on the Gamepad itself.Īnd it’s all very easy. Even though everything is purposely pixelated by its art direction, adding the layers of effects seems to bring it all to life, reaching out from the cubed world the game resides in. Worlds can be multiple levels, with topography that can reach several layers high.ĭifferent themes exist as well, allowing us to further customize our troops and designs with color, texture, and even light. Puzzles are created from combinations of blocks, obstacles and traps. Cubemen 2 focuses on it directly, providing a deep range of customization and tools used to build and manipulate. Apart from art apps and a few hair salon “things”, creation isn’t as prevalent with the Wii U as it should be. I’m starving to find an imagination outlet on the Gamepad. That may ultimately be its savior, in a roundabout way. It’s tower defense with a few notable twists, and it certainly lives in a category that the Nintendo console is missing. In comes Cubemen 2, a game that may share an aesthetic and creative kinship with Mojang’s blockbuster but emphasizes a more console-like multiplayer experience. Alas, now that Minecraft is probably never coming to the console, our hopes would have to remain with Mario Maker as our only outlet. The Gamepad opens up interesting second screen possibilities that could aid in easy creation and manipulation of worlds and ideas. The notion of user-generated content on the Wii U seems like a natural fit.

Cubemen 2 review