The first robot is already heading around the corner, the portraits along the right side show the competition, and the lap counter gives you three chances to sort things out. Cubix: Robots for Everyone, Race ‘n Robots puts its cartoon cast on the starting grid and sends them through Bubble Town. It is a cheerful little PlayStation racer with a useful habit of getting straight to the race.

★

The verdict.

Graphics72%

72%

Sound70%

70%

Gameplay77%

77%

Replay value76%

76%

73.8%

Retro Replay Verdict

A cheerful Bubble Town racer with cup unlocks, upgrades, and extra modes. Fans and a second player give its modest tracks the most staying power.

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Four robots are available at the beginning, including Cubix, with more to unlock as you work through the cups. The familiar faces give fans a reason to pick a favorite, but the championship supplies the better reason to keep going. Winning races opens more of the roster, and the points earned along the way can be spent on upgrades at the Botties Pit. Finishing a cup leaves you with something to take into the next one.

The town makes an agreeable place to race. Houses, trees, fences, and broad stretches of road give the courses a bright, approachable appearance, and the robot portraits keep the characters close even when a rival has disappeared up the track. There is enough of the show’s personality here to make the setting feel familiar. The blocky scenery and small racers also leave the basic business of following the road easy to read.

That friendly appearance does not mean every tempting route is fair game. Certain shortcuts, including jumps over fences, can send you back to the course and cost valuable time. It is an irritating lesson when the leaders are already getting away. Once you understand where the game wants you to stay, keeping a tidy line becomes a more dependable plan than trying to steal a spectacular shortcut.

Story Mode builds its progress around cups and first-place finishes. The three-lap races give you time to recover from a mistake, although a poor opening can leave plenty of work to do. The upgrade shop and unlockable robots give the championship a welcome bit of momentum between races. There is a modest satisfaction in returning to the next event with another robot available or an upgrade paid for by the previous result.

Versus Mode gives the Story tracks another job. You can race them on your own or bring friends into the competition, where falling too far behind can cost a point. Having someone else to chase makes a straightforward course more entertaining. A familiar corner becomes the place where somebody might finally lose the lead, and the next race becomes a fairly easy argument to win.

Coin Race is the other useful diversion. Collecting coins takes priority, so crossing the line first is no longer the whole point. It gives you a reason to look around the course instead of following the quickest route out of habit. Between that change of objective, the cups, and the extra robots, the game has a few ways to keep its small racing world busy.

The appeal is strongest when you want a light race with characters you recognize. A player who has no attachment to Cubix may find the championship less compelling, and the course boundaries can take the shine off a promising run. Even so, the modes and unlocks give it more to do than a few quick laps followed by a trip back to the shelf. Fans get a colorful visit to Bubble Town, and a second player gives those return trips a little more life.

Longplay credit: RyanMcQuinn, played December 9, 2022. Watch the original PlayStation recording.