The Cub Switch Review
I don’t think I have ever experienced a game like The Cub in my lifetime. Sure, platform games exist already, and I’ve played many in my lifetime, but there’s something about “The Cub” that’s different, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s equal parts haunting and frustrating, as well as beautiful and mesmerizing. What’s it Like? Put on your space helmet, tune into the radio, and stay clear of the Martians as we review The Cub.
The Cub follows a small child on Earth who was left behind after a catastrophic event. It’s almost like The Jungle Book if it was set in the apocalypse. It’s set in the same universe as Wasteland Golf, which I unfortunately have yet to play. It’s a tribute to the 90’s platform gaming era or the Lion King and Alladin, and the difficulty to match. Throughout your journey, you will explore the ruins of Earth, parkour your way out of tricky situations, and be relentlessly hunted by the Martians, who are Humans coming back to survey Earth. It’s a story that’s narrated by The Cub, and the game manages to say so much, by saying little. You experience the apocalyptic world through The Cub and its horrors are explained with the innocence and disconnect of a small child.
The Art style looks almost hand-drawn and perfectly encapsulates the dystopian wasteland The Cub lives in. The setting shows a desperate struggle to escape the planet, only for the poor to succumb to the hostile environment due to their financial status. The Cub himself is full of personality and childlike wonder and it’s unnerving seeing piles of skeletons as you playfully jump over car wreckages or hug a teddy bear found on the floor. The Cub dances, taunts the Martians, and exhibits child like curiosity with the world around him. There’s a lot of variety in the environments, not so much with the enemies but it makes sense from a lore perspective I suppose.
Gameplay sees you timing your jumps and movements around the apocalyptic playground while evading capture from the Martians, who want to study you due to your natural immunity to Earth’s now hostile environment. It’s extremely challenging in parts, frustratingly so. Gamers who are after a relaxed experience need not apply as your patience and skill will be tested, and then further pushed to breaking point. There were times when I had to walk away for a moment due to challenging gameplay. The one particular area I struggle with is early in the game when gameplay mimics the Donkey Kong Minecart levels. Unfortunately, this area felt less like a basis of skill, and more like a trial and error memory exercise, overcoming one obstacle, to then immediately dying at the next, rinse and repeat. This section completely destroyed my immersion in the game that the opening had expertly crafted, and thankfully, I overcame that frustration to push on, but I wouldn’t be surprised if other gamers didn’t.
There’s a lot to discover and collect during your time with The Cub, finding news articles, and various other collectibles as you navigate the wreckage of the urban jungle. Most of these can be found naturally as you progress through the game, rarely forcing you to go off the beaten track, and I think that is a good thing as it further assists with the world-building and storytelling. The journey won’t be a long one, with The Cub taking roughly 4 hours to complete, probably even 3 hours if you don’t die 200 times on the mine carts like I did. The story wrapped in a way I didn’t see coming, and I think that will stay with me for a while.
Composers Shane Berry and Igor Simic expertly manipulate your emotions with one of the most unique soundtracks I have heard. The score assists as a narrative device, with a DJ painting a picture of dystopian life on Mars, and how humans didn’t flee for greener pastures, merely survival. The soundtrack is an eclectic mix of hard-hitting electro-pop, to a deep bass funk-rock hybrid that somehow manages to fuse with the gameplay to further tell the story. The music is sometimes haunting, with “The Son of No One” running chills down your spine as it establishes your desolation in the wasteland, and then almost immediately flips it to the playful and catchy track “Asa Go Distant.” Further exposition in the narrative is told as interviews of what Martians miss about Earth, lamenting about the days of riding a motorcycle cross country with the wind in their hair. The sound production is out of this world if you’ll excuse the pun.
I won’t ever play this game again, and I know it won’t make sense to say it’s not a bad thing. It’s a short experience that’s challenging, sometimes frustrating, and genuinely haunting. To me, I want to leave it as the experience that will sit with me for a while. The Cub expertly uses its score to invoke all the right emotions and the art style builds a believable and desolate world as well as providing some tight platforming sections. The Cub is a great game that’s here for a good time, just not a long one.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided but this does not impact my final score.
