Super Rub A Dub review (PlayStation 3)

Selling a £425 console on the feature of being able to play a storyless abstract duck-a-thon was probably high on Sony’s marketing plan if its previous attempts at PR are anything to go by, and yet it was the first we all saw of the Playstation 3; the wondrous rubber duck demo. While none of us thought it would turn into a fully fledged game, the PlayStation Store is blessed with another £3.49 option in Super Rub A Dub, which basically lets you control a duck avoiding sharks in an attempt to save other mini ducks encapsulated in bubbles and lead them to safety; down the plughole.

If I am to be entirely accurate, you don’t exactly control the duck, but using Sony’s posterboy, the Sixaxis Controller, you tilt the controller and therefore the (increasingly strangely shaped) bathtub to influence the direction the lovely yellow bath toy will float. It’s all rather simple, but seems a lot more of a game than the previous attempt, the absorbing flOw.

Making things complicated

Let’s get specific. The game is split into 60 levels, of which they are evenly spread within three difficulties starting with ‘fun’. Each level contains a load of ordinarily stationary bubbles with miniature rubber ducks inside, which you can free by bumping into them. Once free, the little cute things will follow you around until you run over the small plughole when they will make it a point to leap in to their apparent safety. The objective isn’t to save all of the ducks, but to clear the stage in the fastest time; each duck you fail to save adds a second to your score, and the more ducks you have following you into the plughole in one chain, the higher your duck-chain score which is then subtracted from your time.

Your time decides the medal you are awarded as well as your online position, a welcome addition to try and incite you to retry levels until you can rise in the rankings. Cleverly, instant replays of the best times are viewable in-game to give you a few hints on how best to achieve a faster time, which adds a social aspect to the gameplay. While you can choose multiple players from the opening menu, this only gives you the option to take turns to beat each level; understandable without having fights over how to tilt the bathtub.

It’s not all smooth sailing

Once you’re used to the controls, the game starts throwing extra obstacles at you. Clockwork sharks start appearing in the levels that will chase you or your followers if they spot you, to incite Metal Gear Solid style stealth ducking (see what I did there?). Some levels involve separate areas that require you to shake the controller to jump over chasms that water freely (and beautifully) spills over to avoid wasting precious seconds as you wait for your duck to reappear. Amusingly, shaking the tub also flips over those nasty sharks, rendering them impotent and allowing them to be tipped over the edge if it helps your game, and any ducks following you will follow suit and hop over walls to keep in line.

Later on, larger unflappable sharks will chase you around levels, and bubbles containing sharks will get in the way, and give you something to avoid in the hope that you don’t release the big teeth. As if that wasn’t enough, every five levels gives you a bonus stage in which you become a gnashing duck eating machine (a shark) and have 60 seconds to eat them all to proceed. It gives a refreshing change from the rest of the game and adds a bit more variety to the repetitive if pretty environments.

Presenting an all new console

The graphics are beautiful as expected and while short of particular reality, the ducks and sharks look detailed, and the water is beautiful with its spilling shifting reflecting and rippling details. It all sounds believable too, with enough water splashing sounds to incite a visit to the toilet and some unimaginative but certainly acceptable generic sound effects. The music is pleasant but repetitive too, and while the game does offer a very limited amount of gameplay, the incentive to rise in the online leader boards and achieve gold medals on all 60 will keep you playing beyond what you might consider it is worth for £3.49.

It’s not going to break any records or receive any awards, but in this early content dry PS3 time, I’m more than happy to play a game that seems to embrace the nostalgic simple level gameplay of old for less than the price of a Guitar Hero 2 song pack on the 360.