Kickle Cubicle

Name: Kickle Cubicle
Year: 1988
Publisher: Irem Corp.
Developer: Irem Corp.
Genre: Action Puzzler
Hours Played: Countless
Beaten: Yes, without cheats

Kickle Cubicle is an action/puzzle game released in 1988, based off of a Japanese-only arcade game of the same name.  You play the role of Kickle, an earmuff-wearing snowman who traverses four worlds to save Fantasy Land from the clutches of the evil Ice Wizard (a snowman with a bucket on his head).  Each world is made up of one-screen ice islands, which you destroy by collecting all the magic bags on the screen.

At first, Kickle Cubicle looks like a Pengo clone - kick ice blocks, grab all the magic bags and clear the level - but the game soon turns into an Adventure of Lolo-style puzzler.  The puzzles never get too mind-bending, but you also have aggressive enemies, a timer, and melting ice blocks to deal with.

Fantasy world is bright, colorful, and goofy.  Each world is named after it's denizens - Vegetable Land, for instance, is populated by talking vegetables.  Some people may complain that each stage looks exactly the same - every level in the game is made out of ice, after all - but the pallet does subtly change between worlds, and there's always new enemies and gimmicks being introduced, even in the last world.

Graphics & Animation: 4 (Excellent)
The graphics are everything you could want in a NES game - bright, colorful, detailed, and varied.  A lot of effort went into making distinct sprites where it wasn't strictly necessary. Each time you beat an island, rescued dinizens (vegetables, fruit, etc) circle around Kickle, and it's shocking how rarely the sprites repeat - almost like you're playing Bubble Bobble.  Also, there's four different princesses you rescue - one at the end of each island - and they're completely distinct from one another.

Music & Sound: 2 (Average)
The music is fine in Kickle Cubicle, catchy even, but there's not much of it.  There's the level music, the boss music, and a couple ditties for game overs and clearing levels.  It's fine, but you'll hear it over and over.

Controls & Level Design: 4 (Excellent)
The main controls in Kickle Cubicle are walking around (top-down), freezing enemies, kicking ice blocks, and  building ice barriers.  The controls are intuitive and responsive.  There's a lot of nuances to the controls (for instance, it's possible to redirect a block that's bouncing between two springs, but only if you kick it during the split second before the spring hits it), and like any good action puzzle game, Kickle Cubicle will make sure you fully explore each and every one before your quest is over.

Story & Presentation: 3 (Good)
The plot of Kickle Cubicle is so much silly nonsense - ears of corn, candy canes, and other inanimate objects plead for your help, princesses are kidnapped, you fight pirate chickens - but the game does a nice job of filling you in.  Characters talk to you between levels, the game over screen changes after every world (with the most recently rescued princess providing words of encouragement), and there's a detailed cutscene at the end of each word showcasing the boss's lair.

Length & Replayability: 3 (Good)
There's a lot of game here.  Four worlds, with over fifteen stages and a boss in each world, and once you beat the main game there's a 30-stage bonus game focusing on more difficult puzzles.  Unfortunately, replayability is the Achilles' heel of most puzzle games - once you know how to solve all the puzzles, there isn't a lot of reason to come back.

TOTAL: 16 (Good)