TribePlay's Cube Galaxy is a chip off the Diamond Dash block

It's only been two months since TribePlay released their first Facebook game. But the brainiacs that brought us BrainJewel, an Egyptian-themed math and logic game, have now debuted their second game ever, a sci-fi themed falling blocks puzzler for Facebook called "Cube Galaxy". While brain games are a rarity on Facebook, puzzlers are a popular genre dominated by two greats -- PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz and Wooga's Diamond Dash.

Available in English, German, French, Portuguese, and Chinese, Cube Galaxy was made in Chengdu, the capitol of Sichuan province in China. This game's got all the bells and whistles of your typical Facebook puzzler, including 60-second rounds, the option to purchase boosts with coins or Facebook Credits, the ability to send friends virtual gifts, compare scores with your friends, and a weekly leaderboard. In fact, Cube Galaxy bears a striking resemblance to Diamond Dash. Those basics aside, it does manage to offer a few new twists in terms of gameplay.
Cube Galaxy Thunder Boost
Your goal is to eliminate cubes on the screen by arranging them in groups of 3 or more. But these cubes can be moved one at a time, at your discretion, and they also don't disappear unless you decide they're good enough to zap away. The pace of the game feels faster than either Diamond Dash or Bejeweled Blitz, even though these rounds only last a minute. This is because you're handling a smaller playing field, one that starts off empty, then quickly fills up randomly, just like Tetris.

Gallery: Cube Galaxy

Before a round, you can add boosts to your game, but not all of them are unlocked until you level up. During a round, if you earn points fast enough, your screen will go into Overdrive, which nets you special items for higher scores. Finally, each round concludes with something called "Last Blow", which zaps all the blocks off your board that's in groups of 3 or more. Needless to say, it's in your best interests to keep shuffling blocks until the final second, even if you can't click on those blocks to zap them. Points earned during Last Blow get an added percentage bonus based on what level you're at. For example, if you're at Level 3, you get a +3% added to your Last Blow points.

While Cube Galaxy offers very little that's new, it's still a solid title with a nice aesthetic and a mascot. It'd be nice if TribePlay took further advantage of their sci-fi theme and adorable alien, "QT" (which is Chinese keyboard slang for "cutie"), such as turning him into a virtual buddy, to offer user customizations for the game. Some good examples would be enabling players to purchase backgrounds, interactive animations (hey, "durable virtual goods that enable new gameplay experiences" have definitely worked for The Sims Social), and costumes for QT to wear. Since the game is currently still in beta, one can hope. Right now, there's just not much helping this title stand above the rest.

BrainJewel on Facebook tests your brain in math and memory tasks

While many Facebook gamers have left school behind a long time ago, Chinese game developer TribePlay is hoping to reinvigorate our brains, testing how much we've remembered about math, along with testing our observational skills and memory in a new game called BrainJewel.

In BrainJewel, you're met with an Egyptian treasure map containing a series of levels or tests that include variations on basic memory games, and those that include basic math tasks from addition to division. Each mini-game can be mastered to a three star level, based on your score and as you earn more stars, you'll unlock more tests. As of this writing, it looks like there are only 11 spots, or mini-games, to visit on the map, but you'll likely need to play each game multiple times before earning a score worthy of three stars, which will keep you going long after you've first started the game.

As you play the game, you'll receive Jewels which can be used to purchase power-ups. These power-ups may give you more time to play each mini-game, will increase your score multiplier until you make a mistake and will even protect that multiplier from being reset should you choose the wrong answer in any particular game. As for the games themselves, they range from incredibly simplistic (click on checkerboard squares that contain items, after the items have faded away) to truly challenging (balloons containing - sometimes complex - math equations float into the distance, and you need to determine the right answer from a large selection of arrows).

Gallery: BrainJewel on Facebook


In terms of basic gameplay, there's no energy bar here, so it looks like you can continue playing indefinitely. You can even invite a single friend to challenge on any particular game, if you want to show off your mental prowess. You'll also "level up," such as it is, earning a new in-game title (bragging rights, rather than truly new content) once you reach certain cumulative scores.

All told, BrainJewel has a fairly simplistic setup, and will likely do well to absorb a few minutes of your time, but it needs, at the very least, the promise of new mini-games and maps to truly be a force in the Facebook gaming world.

Play BrainJewel on Facebook -->

Do you like brain-bending puzzle games like this, or do you prefer a more casual gameplay experience like the many simulation games also available on Facebook? Sound off in the comments.