Cubeskew 2 Preview Video: YouTube - Halo Reach Forge Map (Altered Gravity) Cubeskew 2 Preview‏ UPDATED MAP - YOU MAY ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO COMPLETE IT NOW WITHOUT CHEATING. For all those who ran out of patience trying to complete Cubeskew 2: Skewed Harder, I proudly present Cubeskew 2: Skewed Easier. While I love the harder version of Cubeskew 2, it is insanely difficult to complete, especially with an Invasion timer breathing down your neck. With this new, easier version, I feel I’ve retained all the aspects that made the first version fun while removing the aggravating difficulty level. Now, the average player should be able to complete the map with only a fraction of the patience required for the harder version. Every jump that was in the original Cubeskew 2 is still there. I’ve just tweaked things a bit to increase the probability of successfully landing the more difficult jumps. While the word easier is in the title of this new version, it is only a relative term. Cubeskew 2: Skewed Easier is still a challenging map to complete, but it should be much more fun than the harder version. Check out the new video walkthrough down below to see if you can figure out what was changed to improve your odds of completing Cubeskew 2. I really hope that anyone who became too discouraged to finish the original version will try this one out. I’m confident you’ll find it much more enjoyable when you can actually make your way to the end. _________________________________________ Mission Briefing Summary: We’ve recently discovered a singular Forerunner facility. Well, it’s actually not quite so singular since we explored a similar yet smaller facility a little less than a year ago. What makes this facility special is the gravitational anomalies that have been detected throughout the structure, the strongest of which appear to be occurring near the facility’s center. Your mission will be to gain entry and explore the facility. Make your way to the area of greatest gravitational distortion, ascertain the cause and bring that information back to headquarters. Based on intel acquired from the first facility, you’ll be encountering some disorienting effects. Determining up and down will most likely be a difficult task. Mission Update: Based on your situation report, you’ve entered the facility and the path back to your Falcon has been cut off. Continue the mission as planned. We are working on an alternate extraction point, yet to be determined. Watch for waypoints throughout the duration of the mission, the final of which will be your new extraction point. Good luck. _________________________________________ Cubeskew 2: Skewed Easier This map is the big brother of my first Cubeskew map. Bigger in every way, Cubeskew 2 dwarfs the original in both size and difficulty. There are some new surprises awaiting those with enough stamina to make it through the disorienting effects of the cube. Like the first Cubeskew, be prepared for an architectural reward (or curse) once you’ve escaped the cube. Cubeskew 2 has checkpoints, unlike its predecessor, although they probably won’t be as frequent as many players would want. Because escaping from Cubeskew 2 will be very difficult, I’ve set up two separate gametypes for the map. The first, Cubeskew 2 Invasion, is more difficult due to the inclusion of time limits, but offers a more complete experience. The second, Cubeskew 2 Oddball, has no time limits and may be more appropriate for those who aren’t seeking the pressure of a timer breathing down their necks. WARNING: You must use either the Cubeskew 2 Invasion or Cubeskew 2 Oddball gametype when playing this map. While other gametypes may work, you may encounter game-breaking problems that will detract from your enjoyment of the map. If using the Cubeskew 2 Invasion gametype, all players MUST be on the red team. Anyone on the blue team will not be able to play through the map. Also, only Spartans will be able to complete Cubeskew 2. Do not enter this map as an Elite. Cubeskew 2 is a very difficult map to finish. For anyone who can't make it out of the cube(s), feel free to use Forge to play through the map. Just be sure not to use the Basic Editing or Invasion gametypes while in Forge or you'll run into impassable gates. Overall Map Diagram: The following diagram contains minor spoilers. If you prefer to be surprised by the unexpected, you may want to look at this later once you’ve made it through the map. Spoiler Cubeskew 2 Images: Insertion point First view of the cube Inside the cube Checking out the cube’s exterior You’re going to have to open these bars to move on. Cubeskew 2 Spoiler Images: The following images show portions of the final challenge. If you don't want the end spoiled for you, don't look at these images yet. Spoiler The final challenge Extraction point Cubeskew 2 Video Solution: The following video shows a walkthrough of the map. If you haven't played the map yet and don't want anything spoiled for you, don't watch it yet. Spoiler Here is the walkthrough for Cubeskew 2: Skewed Easier. Halo Reach Puzzle Map Cubeskew 2: Skewed Easier Solution‏ - YouTube DOWNLOAD CUBESKEW 2: SKEWED EASIER DOWNLOAD CUBESKEW 2 INVASION GAMETYPE DOWNLOAD CUBESKEW 2 ODDBALL GAMETYPE Good luck. Don't lose your cool. I cannot be held responsible for any broken controllers.
Lololol Yeah the first cubeskew was a walk in the park compares the first edition of the second one. How come you didn't call this Cubeskew 3: Skewed easier? I like how you've made it cleaner with the aesthetic aditions like the beginning hallway and falcon pickup area
Agreed with Ninja FFFFFUUUUUUUU but anywho me and my friend enjoy playing your Cubeskew and stuff its fun and challenging but make a 3rd one
I only have 2 statements: 1. This map breaks the laws of physics 2. This map breaks the laws of MY MIND I cant imagine how much work you had to put into this map, great job, you have my download.
Cubeskewed 2 : Skewed Easier The rotational snap feature in Halo Reach’s forge coupled with the ability to walk on forty-five degree surfaces can create very twisted play stages. Cubeskewed capitalizes on this by placing players in a giant cube tipped entirely on a forty-five and all the player has to do is climb to the top. However, with even the basic sense of what is up and what is down having been robbed from the players, simply climbing to the top is a whole lot harder to handle especially when the term “top” becomes an ambiguity. So, in the mix of discombobulating discomfort that Cubeskewed causes its hapless travelers, they may find that they actually have a time limit to get the puzzle done thanks to an Invasion game that comes with the map. This can be rather stressful for the player as even with a fifteen minute timer per phase players have hardly enough time to figure out the first several correct moves before the, “Elites win!” Comfort does come in the form of an Oddball variant that is timeless, but ultimately kills the story behind the map with the cube ‘rotating’ to essentially become a puzzle within a puzzle. At that point though, it becomes the player’s preference as to whether they would rather experience the full story behind the Invasion variant or the ease of self-paced progression in the Oddball variant. Much of a player’s ability to enjoy Cubeskewed comes down to their understanding of Reach’s physics engine. Depending on the direction a player is facing, jumping may do as little tip them forward a couple feet or send them careening clear across the cube. Similarly, it is often hard to tell which gaps can be successfully jumped across unless a mental reference for what position the player is on in relation to the global angle of the map can be consistently made. Last and certainly not least, a player’s enjoyment of this map ultimately comes down to how long they are willing to perform trial and error experiments on what works and what does not work. Then, even if it does work, does it help progress them towards the goal? For such a simplistic idea, there are a surprising number of ways for Cubeskewed to be thought out and often times that reasoning overlaps with itself to either form the solution or trap the player in a circular chase with their own sanity. Other than a hole in an otherwise unreachable wall and a red light blinking within it, players will find this puzzle to be very open ended. That meaning there is really no sense of guidance behind what should be done. A player may spend half an hour trying a method which seems to work, but fails because of one loose end that in all likelihood would make them start all over. Many of these issues may stem from the simple fact that the ability to orient oneself on Cubeskewed is difficult within itself. Had the map been flat and not tipped at an angle, it would propose itself as a simple jump map and require little, if not any, guidance to complete. Given the nature of this perplexing hexahedron a subtle hint as to what should happen next would not have hurt when it comes to giving players a fair chance on the map. This due especially when facing the timer that comes with the Invasion gametype. Important in puzzle maps is player mortality rate. When a player makes a mistake do they die? The first two cubes can be done almost entirely without the fear of dying following the player. However, the third and final part of the puzzle presents itself as a tricky spiral that actually does give way to dying easily. One primal fear that comes with dying on a puzzle is the probability that the player will have to start again from the beginning with not even a checkpoint of some sort to show for their effort. The author alleviates this concern by placing respawns at the beginning of the third phase so that any players who do meet with an unsuccessful leap of faith do not have to worry about confusing cube behind them. These respawns do pave way for some durability issues mentioned later on, but in terms of player fairness they are crucial. Despite the majority of Cubeskewed being completely enclosed it does face its share of durability issues. The first, as forewarned in the previous section, has to do with a couple of Respawn points on the third phase. Fall damage is something players do not have to worry about on this map. Physics glitches are. Sometimes if a player approaches the lowest corner of the cube, where three coliseum walls meet, they will randomly die. This undoubtedly leads to the player respawning on the only Respawn points of the map on the last phase of the map, the spiral. Therefore, by simply dying the player can ironically pass the heart of the puzzle and only contend with the last much less puzzling challenge. Another Durability issue shines face when trying to complete the first cube. Thanks to the angular nature of sixty-six percent of Cubeskewed it is hard to pinpoint exactly what areas the players can and cannot use especially when every single surface counts and efforts made to stop players from breaking the map may actually cause a break in the map. This break comes from the author trying to capture the feel of the cube rotating in the second phase and a surface that is supposed to be unused in the first that allows the player to skip half of the first cube (see fig. 1 -when I make it- ). While this could be seen as an open ended solution to the puzzle it seems unlikely this exploit was intentional after comparing the way the author completed the puzzle. Despite these inherent issues, Cubeskewed is by no means a broken map. Even with the aforementioned exploits it a tremendously perplexing map with many other purely unbroken challenges that help sustain its light. Figure 1 Written by: Sgt Surchin Generally speaking, most puzzle maps include minimum to no effort on aesthetics. While this map doesn't does not make much for an exception, there is at least some effort to make the map look somewhat appealing. To the contrary to this, it is quite a challenge for a forger to add decent aesthetics within a puzzle map which happens tend to eat up quite a bit of budget. On the bright side, the creator did in fact make somewhat of an attempt to match an appealing theme for the map. The feel for a The intended feel of a forerunner facility type structure, as described in the map post, was not fully achieved, however, due to the massive amount of spread out clutter of objects within the puzzle cube sections of the map so the intended theme was not successfully met. One very simple twist makes Cubeskewed incredibly original and that is the one element that separates it from any ordinary jumping map and that is the forty-five degree tilt. This literal twist is the game changer for the map and basing all of the jumps and challenges accordingly helped to create a new and interesting puzzle experience that introduces a whole new dimension in thinking when trying to solve it. The story behind the cube’s gravitational anomalies coupled with the Invasion gametype’s ability to play nicely with the story makes for another experience that makes the cube feel ominous and almost magic. It is odd that one simple change like a forty-five tilt can make a map that would otherwise be nothing worth mentioning, an experience that is hard to come by. It just goes to show that even an exhausted concept can be successfully rejuvenated with even the simplest of tweaks. Rating Multipliers [floatleft]Enjoyment: Balance: Durability: Aesthetic : Originality:[/floatleft]6 x 3.0 = 18 out of 30 6 x 3.0 = 18 out of 30 6 x 1.5 = 9 out of 15 4 x 1.5 = 6 out of 15 9 x 1.0 = 9 out of 10 Final Score Understanding the Review Hub's Ratings Have a question about your review? Review Hub Community Feedback Find this review helpful? Try editing it into the map's Original Post.
4/10 on aesthetics!? I thought that this puzzle was quite aesthetically appealing (such as its neatness, and the swirly tunnels) :/ .I would've given it an 8.3 on aesthetics :/