Mahjong Cub3d

Genre: Card Game / Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless), Download Play Supported

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Review:

Mahjong Cub3d, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2011, is a version of solitaire Mahjong that reimagines the game to have players rotating a clump of Mahjong tiles in 3-dimensional space and matching free tiles with the same face.

The presentation here uses a dark, futuristic look with 3D visuals, backed by a similarly futuristic synthesized soundtrack. While this presentation is decent, I don’t think it really fits a game of Mahjong, and unfortunately players cannot trade out skins for a set they like better or have an easier time seeing – what the game gives you is what you’re stuck with.

While the idea of a spinning, 3-dimensional Mahjong is intriguing, unfortunately in practice it comes across as gimmicky, and it also makes for somewhat unintuitive controls, as spinning your clump of tiles around requires holding down L or R and pressing the circle pad, rather than simply pressing a button or using the second analog input (the omission of the latter being a bit more understandable due to this game being released prior to the release of the Circle Pad Pro and New Nintendo 3DS.

Things get worse in the traditional game mode included in the game. Yes, it’s nice that you can play a standard, normal game of Mahjong here. Unfortunately, the tile set in this mode is difficult to see, and what’s more, tiles farther away from you on bottom become obscured by higher tiles in front so you can’t see them. Making things even worse still, highlighting the piece you want to select in this mode feels like a crapshoot, as the cursor often seems to skip over pieces.

In the end, Mahjong Cub3d is an interesting idea with pretty bad execution. The presentation doesn’t seem appropriate and there are no options to change it to your preference, the 3D stuff seems gimmicky, the controls are awkward, the ability to see pieces is limited. While you can still get some enjoyment out of this game, I feel like there have to be better versions of Mahjong out there.

tl;dr – Mahjong Cub3d is a version of solitaire mahjong whose primary game mode has players spinning around a clump of blocks in 3D to make matches. Unfortunately, the presentation is ill-fitting, the controls are awkward, and the lack of different skins and the poor camera in some modes means you may have difficulty seeing some pieces. This is still a playable version of Mahjong, but it’s far from a great one.

Grade: C-

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