{"id":16238,"date":"2017-03-27T00:01:04","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T00:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=16238"},"modified":"2017-02-23T05:29:11","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T05:29:11","slug":"death-squared-ps4-xbox-one-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/27\/death-squared-ps4-xbox-one-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"Death Squared (PS4, Xbox One, PC)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The best way to describe Death Squared is that it\u2019s like a block pushing puzzle game, except you\u2019re the blocks!\u00a0 In the game you control two to four colored cube-shaped robots, and must get them to same colored targets without any of them dying.\u00a0 But that\u2019s easier said than done with all the traps laid out in each room!\u00a0 Death Squared is available to download on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.<\/p>\n

Play control is super easy to learn.\u00a0 You just move with the analog stick and that\u2019s it.\u00a0 If you press a button, it\u2019ll just make the robots\u2019 eyes blink.\u00a0 So anyone can learn how to play with little instruction.\u00a0 But that\u2019s the only easy thing about the game!<\/p>\n

There are two main modes of play.\u00a0 In the single player mode, you control two of the robots, one with the left analog stick, and one with the right.\u00a0 You must get them both to markers of the same color to complete the level, but if one of them dies, you\u2019ll have to start over again.\u00a0 Sometimes stepping on panels will uncover traps, like spikes.\u00a0 Other times, moving a certain way will make blocks move, which can push robots off the stage if you\u2019re not careful. Also, certain colored lasers can zap certain colored robots, so you may have to use the other one as a shield.<\/p>\n

The other main mode of play is Party Mode.\u00a0 It\u2019s just like the single player mode in terms of rules, but now you can play with two to four players.\u00a0 If you just have two players, one will control two robots and the other will get the other two.\u00a0 This mode is really tough, because if one player dies, everyone has to start over.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also a lot of fun, too.<\/p>\n

The game has a few flaws.\u00a0 When you start a level, there\u2019s no way to tell what switch activates traps and how blocks will travel according to how you move.\u00a0 So a lot of the deaths will be accidental and there\u2019s not a good way to plan a strategy other than trial and error.\u00a0 But the game is called \u201cDeath Squared\u201d after all.\u00a0 But since they judge your performance at the end of the level by how many times the robots died, it hardly seems fair.\u00a0 Play control also seems a bit too sensitive and it\u2019s really easy to fall off the sides.\u00a0 Finally, in the single player mode in the background you can hear a scientist and a computer having conversations back and forth, as if they were testing the robots.\u00a0 I think they were trying to go for a Portal style atmosphere and humor with that, but they missed the mark.\u00a0 I would\u2019ve been just fine with none of that in this game.<\/p>\n

But other than that, it still remains a fun little puzzler.\u00a0 There are nearly a hundred single player levels alone, and you unlock more puzzles and goodies if you beat them all in both modes!\u00a0 And if you can get a group of friends together who all like these kind of puzzles, Party Mode is a blast.\u00a0 I\u2019d pick it up if you like puzzle games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your robots can fall off the platforms, get skewered, and zapped by lasers, but they just explode and teleport back to where they started.\u00a0 And since it\u2019s all robots, violence is pretty minimal anyway.\u00a0 The scientist and computer that talk in the background sometimes mention drinking, so there\u2019s alcohol references, too.\u00a0 Reading skill is helpful for navigating the menus, but not needed just to play.\u00a0 Younger gamers may need help with the tougher puzzles, though.\u00a0 Four player capability means the whole family can enjoy it together.\u00a0 Death Squared is rated E for Everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best way to describe Death Squared is that it\u2019s like a block pushing puzzle game, except you\u2019re the blocks!\u00a0 In the game you control two to four colored cube-shaped robots, and must get them to same colored targets without any of them dying.\u00a0 But that\u2019s easier said than done with all the traps laid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16239,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16238\/revisions\/16239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}