SpongeBox Demo

It doesn’t take much to entertain a gamer, since all that’s usually required is a worthy challenge. Even if the rest of the game is very simple and primitive, the fact that skill is required to survive or score more points always attracts a decent crowd. Naturally, it goes without saying that the gameplay mechanics must work adequately, otherwise frustration outweighs the fun.

SpongeBox is a simple arcade game in which you have to use your mouse and move a cube from side to side to avoid the obstacles. The cube is speeding along a procedurally-generated corridor, and the speed increases the longer you manage to survive. Due to the fact that the game is still early in the development stage, there are some annoyances with the controls, which is why it might be tough to handle for long.

In case you are familiar with the idea, then you are probably aware that almost the entire concept is taken from Velocibox, a similar game released over a year ago. There’s obviously nothing wrong with taking inspiration from other sources, but it would have been a lot nicer if there were some original concepts at work as well, not just the same thing all over again.

What makes SpongeBox harder to stomach than Velocibox is the fact that there is not enough variety to keep you entertained for too long. The obstacles start repeating themselves rather often, so you can quickly learn what to do in each case. On the other hand, the increasing speed makes it more difficult to dodge some of them, but it’s not always because of your slow reflexes.

The controls have a lot to say on the subject, and it would seem like the box tends to stick to the floor for some reason. It also wants to stay on the middle, which makes it annoying to negotiate some of the obstacles. Not much can be said about the visual quality either, although in cases like this it doesn’t really matter how the environments look. The soundtrack is pretty engaging on the other hand, which is a relief.

SpongeBox is not very attractive at the moment, mainly because of the controls and the lack of variety. However, with enough dedication from the developers and a few fixes when it comes to the controls, the game could turn into something a lot more enjoyable.