Other Sites

Genre: Game - Arcade Action

Developer: Skunk Studios

Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3.9, 500MHz G3

Price: $19.95

Demo: Available

The good folks at Skunk Studios have outdone themselves with a no-holds-barred upgrade on a pretty spiffy original game. QBeez2 adds sharkz, brushz, clownz, magic and other twistz to a game that absorbed a great deal of casual Mac gamers' time the first time around.

We start with what had to remain the same: the soft-cornered, deep pastel colored squares with eyes and mouths reminiscent of curiously engaging oil-spots who emit cheerful shouts of pleased unity when placed together and removed from the board. Newly added colors such as vanilla and charcoal, as well as new voice accents, are more amusing than before, and I challenge you to not imitate aloud the soulful "chocolate together!" or the dismal "grey together" as you play. As before, the basics remain unchanged; you accumulate points by clicking on and removing groups of two or more QBeez of the same color who border each other. Bonuses are provided for large groups and for clearing the board. You can only progress from each stage to the next by clearing 95% or more of the QBeez, with a bonus for removing them all. This "classic mode" retains all the pleasure of the original. But new additions are what make this game a worthwhile purchase.

First, a "Quest" of sorts—thankfully lacking the attempted narrative uselessly tagged onto some games of this sort—takes your chosen QBee through a progression of "levels" where you are introduced to new special QBeez blocks with intriguing properties. Some of these include "bombz" which, when used in tandem, eliminate all blocks of the designated color from the board. "Sharkz" can be aimed to take out all the blocks vertically or horizontally until they hit open air or a bomb. The rodeo "clownz" can be positioned along the bottom of the board to direct the charging bull. (Again, no narrative needed. Where there's a clown, there must be a charging bull. You can't argue with that logic, so why preemptively attempt to defend it?) There are more to discover as you progress through the quest. Each level ends with a timed puzzle which gives you the opportunity to add substantially to your overall score, making for a good mix of puzzle and standard gameplay throughout the quest. But there's more.

A second half of the game is a puzzle mode, where the player can choose from dozens of available puzzles—some shamelessly and unapologetically plugging Skunk Studios' other games and characters—each of which are solvable in the traditional QBeez way or through a shorter series of moves as intended by the board's designer. Boards can be completed and re-tried. Each attempt ends with a barometer scorecard that compares your score to your previous attempts, including your worst, your best, and the most recent score. This is a common sense addition that I wish other puzzle-style games would acquire. Seeing how you're doing compared to your other attempts (instead of the scores of invented players, or online strangers) I think makes the game more challenging and relevant for players, no matter their level of skill. Youngsters and the more nimble-fingered among us could have their own barometer to judge their improvement, whilst the youngest or least agile players could still feel a sense of growth and encouragement. In this way, you could challenge yourself on the same puzzle again and again, or choose from the bountiful puzzles provided. But if, perchance, you grow bored of even these options and are ready to move on, there's more.

A third half of the game, if I may be so careless with my proportions, allows you to design your own puzzle boards and save and submit them to be played by others. For the dedicated QBeez enthusiast, or QBeezy, this level really allows you to get into the workings of the game, offering you full control over every possible aspect of a board. Starting with the game dimensions, you can purposely and individually place QBeez of every available color or you can place a randomizer block, which allows the computer to fill in regular QBeez as you start and re-start the board. You also have artistic control of placing holes in the board, if you feel it is necessary, or every one of the special QBeez blocks. It is a game all its own to try and create a puzzle. I spent much of my time at this level trying to make a board that looks complicated but can be solved most efficiently and effectively with just a few moves. That was also the approach I took to trying to solve the puzzle boards described in the previous section. Always, there remains the possibility that I could have gotten a better score on the level and that there is a "perfect" score available to be achieved.

QBeez2 is one of those rare games where the web advertisement really undersells the game. With the exception of its gushing over the quality of the music—which is good and appropriate, but not "heart-pumping"—their description is sedate and inadequate to the job of describing a much-improved game. This understatement is sort of refreshing in the shareware world. Good work, Skunk Studios. QBeez together!

Download the free demo.