Could you handle The Cube? (The Cube)

Member Name: Emily88

Product:	The Cube
Date:	01/09/09 (220 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good variety of games

Disadvantages: Can be predictable

The Cube is a new Saturday night ITV game show, first airing two weeks ago on the 22nd August 2009. It is hosted by Philip Schofield and Colin McFarlane voices the Cube.

The idea of the show is that a contestant enters 'The Cube' (basically a transparent plastic box) and attempts to complete a seemingly simple challenge. However, due to the restricted space within the Cube and the studio audience, the task is actually a lot harder than it looks. If the contestant completes the challenge, they move up to the next amount of money (£1000, £2000, £10000, £20000, £50000, £100000, and finishing at a mighty £250000).

The contestant begins with nine lives, and they lose one every time they fail a challenge. If they lose all of their lives, any money they have won is lost and they leave with nothing. A 'Simplify' and a 'Trial Run' are also available should the competitor wish to use them. The 'Simplify' makes the challenge easy in some unknown way. The 'Trial Run' allows the contestant to have a go at the game without committing to it (as once they are inside the Cube, they cannot come out until they fail or complete the challenge). The contestant can leave with the money the have got so far, as long as they don't enter the Cube for the next challenge.

Before each game, a mysterious female figure, known as 'The Body', completes the task to show how it should be done. Also, Philip Schofield often gives statistics before the challenger attempts the game (such as '50% of people do this game within two tries').

There has apparently been about sixty games created for The Cube, so hopefully this will mean we aren't seeing the same challenges over and over again. Some examples of my favourite games that have been played are:

- Direction: The contestant is blindfolded and must walk diagonally from one corner of the Cube to the other, while staying inside a narrow path. The trick here was not to go slowly and steadily, but to run.

- Multisphere: A cylinder with 25 red balls inside is placed upside down on a podium in the centre of the Cube. The contestant must lift the cylinder up so that the balls are released and scatter all over the floor. They then have 15 seconds to put all the balls back inside the cylinder.

- Barrier: The contestant is blindfolded and most step over two raised bars without knocking them over. The contestant was allowed to remove his trousers on this game as they were restricting his movement.

One thing I really like about The Cube is the use of slow motion and freeze frames. This sort of thing would usually annoy me, but I found it to be really effective and dramatic. For example, when a ball had to be blown into a box, the action would slow right down just before the ball reached the box, creating suspense.

Although I love this game show, it can be predictable during the second half or so. As the contestants don't continue into the next show (like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?), it is easy to guess how well the contestant will do, according to how much time is left.

Overall, I really like The Cube, and can't wait to see what other games are in store for the contestants. I find it keeps me gripped throughout the whole show - perfect Saturday night viewing.

Summary: A great show