Cyber Protocol Review

Cyber Protocol is a fast paced puzzle game that gives off escape the maze and Pac-Man like vibes with a 80’s retro makeover. At first entertaining, Cyber Protocol soon loses its charm due to each of the levels feeling the same after a while.

The game really doesn’t have a story to it except that you’re a hacker going through programs. Gameplay wise it’s pretty simple – or at least at the beginning it is. Give it a few levels and things will start to pick up. To put it in simpler terms, the player is in control of an avatar moving through a maze, avoiding hazards to get to an exit. There’s escape the maze’s concept. Along the way, you can pick up pellets to boost your overall score and use it to customize your avatar. Picking up pellets; sounds like Pac-Man‘s concept doesn’t it? Honestly though, customization doesn’t really mean much when you’re sliding around so fast you can’t really see your avatar.

Your overall score does not play any special role, especially if you don’t have any friends playing the game to fill out the leader-board. Things get pretty tricky once you are introduced to hazards. These things start out with simple traps like pressure plates that will kill you when stepped on, out of bound barriers, enemy avatars that will either go up and down or left and right, or even giant lasers. Going through this game you will find checkpoints, and thank god for that, because this whole game is trial and error. You will die many many times going through one level. It’s hard to keep track of what trap is what. If you want to make good time or keep your flow going you can’t really stop, or you’ll end up dead. You just have to throw yourself in and hope for the best.  

Once the game has given you everything it has to offer you will get bored. If you’re into achievement hunting you can try to clear the levels without dying but other than that Cyber Protocol just doesn’t offer much. You’re going to get tired of doing the same thing over and over again, and you’re going to get tired of dying. You can grab some friends for some 4 player competitive arcade mode. It plays the same as the single player, but at least you’re not alone.

The music is definitely ’80s-influenced, with its heavy doses of synth so yeah, the 80s. There is a game mode where you can go through all of Cyber Protocol‘s soundtracks, but you can’t choose a track to play while in game. It’s just something to listen to which I found to be pretty disappointing. 

Conclusion

Cyber Protocol is an alright puzzle game, but doesn’t really extend to be anything beyond that.  It carries some levels that will keep you busy for a while, but the constant trial and error will soon wear you out and you’ll get bored of it easily. The retro graphics and 80’s synth music creates a great atmosphere, but content wise it’s empty.

This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox One console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.