Google brings the arcade to your browser with Cube Slam

Google has developed a new browser game as part of its Chrome experiments. The game, Cube Slam, is a two-player video game built using WebRTC, which is an open-web-technology. This technology allow users to video-chat directly from the browser without the need for any plug-ins. Chrome experiments in general is a platform that Google has developed that uses JavaScript to create web experiments. 

The game developers have positioned this game as something you can play with your friends, who can be anywhere in the world. All you need to do to get the Chrome experiment and play with your friends is share a link. Thanks to WebRTC,  video-chats with your friends is now as easy as logging in.

How does the game work? The objective of the Cube Slam, as the name suggests, is to hit a cube that rests in the game board on your opponent’s screen. Users have to hit the cube against the opponent’s screen thrice to get it to explode. But it’s not as simple as playing Air Hockey.

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Google has now launched Cube Slam, a two player game that can be played from anywhere in the world… (image credit: Google)

Players will have to circumvent a multitude of obstacles cluttering the game field to get to the opponent’s screen. And there is an option to use shields. As players progress to higher levels, everything in the game changes, from the obstacles to the game field itself. Even the gravitational field that the cube works under will change.

The game adds to this by providing a range of power-ups, including, but not limited to, fireballs, lasers, multi-balls, mirrored controls, bulletproof shields, fog, ghost balls, time bombs, resized paddles, extra lives and death balls. The game developers have warned against using the death balls in their offical blog though, so it may be advisable to keep that in mind.

Developers have also addressed the ‘who to play when no one is online’ problem. A computer generated opponent nicknamed Bob the bear can be played against in Cube Slam. And if users don’t want to play online, they can install the Cube Slam app and play against Bob on their phone or tablet. However, if they want to play against their friends while on the move, there may be some wait, because WebRTC, on which the game is built, will only be available on mobile later in the year. As of now, Cube Slam can be played on any browser. Check it out to see how well you fare against Bob the bear.