1980 was the most influential year for the video arcade. A little cheese wedge dropped into our world and proceeded to eat all its yellow dots; while being chased by four ubiquitous little ghosts. For the next few years, game developers worked furiously to copy, mimic, and otherwise reverse-engineer this concept into huge profits. One of these companies was Gottlieb, and in 1982 Q*bert was born.
The idea behind this game is to move your little orange alien onto all the squares of a pyramid-shaped map. Each square must be visited at least once and in some cases multiple times. When you land on a square, it changes color. A target color is displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen, and you must visit each square until they ALL match the target. A single visit is all it takes during the game’s early stages. Later on, multiple visits are required for each square. The most challenging stages are those where an EXACT number of visits is required!
If all this were not enough, purple enemies are hopping around the board to thwart you. Feeling cornered? Just hop onto one of the spinning discs floating along the side of the pyramid for a free ride to the top. Be warned, you can use each disc only once per round.
If you happen to see a green object fall onto the board, grab it! Green spheres will temporarily freeze time, allowing you to visit squares unhindered. Green aliens can also be collected, and the quicker the better. While they are on the map, they change the color of every square they visit.
Q*bert: Rebooted, developed by Sideline Amusements is a new imagining of the arcade classic. It can be played in either traditional mode, or in the newfangled “rebooted” mode.
The traditional style offers a great blast from the past, and it bestows one of the most difficult Steam achievements in the game. The rebooted mode includes an actual storyline, as well as enhanced graphics and updated game mechanics.
As you progress, you will unlock a host of playable characters, each a unique amalgamation of the classic Q*bert sprite.
Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone with a few minutes to spare…and who doesn’t mind letting it become a few hours.
-Chris Roberts-
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!