A.V. Club writes: "Critics tend to look kindly on films or books that challenge their audiences. Challenge in a game is a thornier issue. The debate over the "right" level of difficulty in the medium stirs up pride, indignation, and even generational warfare-raise the topic with a child of the '80s, and watch a self-respecting twentysomething proclaim that kids today have it too easy. The frenzied action of Death By Cube is a bold statement on the merits of extreme difficulty. There have been other recent games that are extraordinarily tough, but none are so matter-of-fact about it as this one."
Death By Cube, unfortunately, is characterised by guess work. Success comes down to either being very lucky, or very experienced, and I doubt many have stuck long enough around to benefit from the latter. On the plus side, the graphics are pleasantly fluent, and it's obvious that the gameplay would have worked out just fine, had a few programming hiccups been avoided. Square Enix can be excused for a few flops to their name, and this is one of them.
WorthPlaying writes: "When Square Enix started on its initiative to make more titles for the digital download market, most gamers expected that it would go with its usual repertoire of small RPGs and strategy games. At first, the company obliged with player's expectations by releasing Crystal Defenders, a port of their tower defense title for cell phones. After that, however, they started announcing titles in genres that seemed to be better suited for their newly acquired Taito label. The first was a puzzle title called Yosumin Live, and it had mild success. Next came 0 Day Attack on Earth, an isometric shooter that wasn't exactly well received by critics or gamers. The latest release on Xbox Live Arcade, Death by Cube, is another genre that people don't usually expect from Square Enix: a twin-stick shooter. While the game plays much better than the previous effort, it's still rather difficult to enjoy."
Examiner.com
"This week's discounts for Xbox LIVE doesn't necessarily feature a theme per se but it does feature four Arcade games that were released fairly recently. Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers can get discounts up to 50% on the following games today through July 11."
