As the captain of the penguin-shaped starship, the Penko, it is your job to race across the galaxy to rescue a princess from King Pluto. Once again drawing comparisons to
Katamari,
Trioncube is very easy to get into and it doesn’t take itself all that seriously. The story isn’t all that complex and is mainly comprised of the princess switching hands between King Pluto, a giant purple blob, a pink ship and yourself. This goes on for about 40+ levels until the princess has been passed around more than Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson combined – but, story isn’t your main reason for playing.
The concept behind Trioncube is easy, perhaps too easy. The goal is to create a 3x3 square using blocks that fall from the top of the screen. Once a square is completed it begins to blink, at which point you need to add more blocks to keep creating a chain of 3x3 blocks. This process keeps going until you can’t make another link in the chain, then the blocks disappear and you’re awarded for each block in the grid.
Building chains causes the Penko to go faster, which shows at the side of the bin. The object in each level is to get to the end. Sometimes you’ll have to beat a timer, but most of the time you’re racing against another ship.
The building of chains is where the notion of “flow” comes into play. Once you learn the trick behind getting a chain going, it is very easy to keep it going, sometimes until it fills up the entire screen. Once a chain starts, it is very easy to forget everything around you and lock yourself into the task. It almost begins to feel like the blocks are automatically falling into place – at least until you make a careless move and blow the whole thing (an unfortunate side-effect of letting instinct take over).
When blocks clear, they leave behind coins which can be used to purchase new backgrounds and shatter sounds. Depending on how many 3x3 squares you form you’ll earn either bronze, silver or gold coins, each worth more than the last. Diamond coins can also be unlocked if you manage to fill the entire bin with one chain.
The unlockable extras are cool and will probably keep you playing a little longer. One of the more coveted unlockables is a sound from the arcade shooter Xevious. This is also one of the last ones you’ll unlock and it isn’t all that cheap. It takes a while to get to the really good stuff and even that costs way too much money – so while the rewards are nice, they’re not nice enough to keep you performing the same repetative motions just to earn enough that you’ll buy them. Unless, of course, you’re the type that needs to collect and complete everything the game has to offer. A few more “game” themed unlockables probably would have added a little more incentive, at least for old school gamers.
In addition to Story, Arcade and Endless modes, Trioncube also offers multiplayer variants. Although you can’t take the game online, the two players can play off one card while four can play with multiple cards.
