Qub3d High Score

[Kerrie Gingrich]

QUB3Dis a machine that can be found all round the island. There is one in first strip club as you go in the front door on the left. There is also one in the same bar as the first pool hall you enter. (See "Pool Shark") The high score is 10,950, but the achievement will not unlock until after you finish the game. The main point of QUB3D is that blocks will fall from the top to the bottom much like Tetris, and you need to get similar colors to land so that 4 blocks of the same color are connected, and then that color block will disappear.

When not dealing with Winamp or music, once upon a time, I might have been reading up on some spiritual,

philosophical, theoretical, idealogical or historical literature, or been watching some sci-fi series on tv.

But these days, I must admit, that I spend quite a bit of my spare time playing Grand Theft Auto (GTA3 > Vice City > San Andreas > GTA4),

which I know is a far cry away from seeking the path to enlightenment and higher consciousness....

I haven't played GTA4 for a couple of years. I was playing GTA-SA again most recently...

But, a few weeks ago (in Oct 2013), whilst waiting for 1) the outcome of the Winamp situation and 2) the arrival of GTA5 for PC,

I thought I'd go back to GTA4, for something to do...

There's this little side game in GTA4 called QUB3D, a bit similar to Connect 4.

Falling red, blue, green, yellow, purple & orange cubes which you need to connect 4 of the same color together to clear them off the board.

As part of the 100% completion task, you need to beat the computer high score, which is something around 11,000.

At first, I was getting scores around 15k, then managed to break 20k.

I thought I'd never reach 30k, but when I did a few days later, I noticed that it speeds up quite drastically around the 31k mark, then again at 36k.

That was it, or so I thought. I'll never get any higher than this. It's too fast, not enough time to think, the board fills up too quickly and it's game over.

Then I checked the in-game Tutorial, and found out about Power-Ups,

which you acquire as a result of getting 4 cubes in a square, 4 times.

The max power-ups available are 3.

If you use one, you can get another, but no more than 3 at a time.

So, in the PC version, you just hit the "1" key, and it clears the bottom few rows off the board.

Hit it twice, and virtually the whole board is cleared, which makes it easier to get a few more points, even at that speed,

and hopefully you can acquire another couple of power-ups again...

So then I made it past 41k and, lo and behold, it speeded up again. Arghh! "I hate this game!!!"

The more you play it though, the more you get used to the speed, and the easier it gets.

At 45k it hits top speed, and never gets any faster.

So once you're attuned to this top speed (which took me a good few days, and lots of stressing out, lol),

it's possible to get higher scores.

I thought I'd never reach 50k, but somehow I did, and was very pleased :-)

However, although I knew about the "jump" function, where you can remove a falling cube by moving it to the left or right as it's overtaking a cube already on the board,

I hadn't been using this feature, because it was all just happening too fast, with not enough time to think... or so I thought.

Then suddenly, one day, it just clicked. I got used to the high speed and was using the jump feature to remove unwanted cubes.

I reached the magical 100k. Wow, I thought. Just Wow! I couldn't believe it.

Then a few days later I scored a whopping 270k.

A few days ago, I scored a million. A freakin' million!

And believe me, it took all night (with a few breaks here and there for bathroom, food & drink etc).

Yup, it requires a hell of a lot of patience.

And the even crazier thing is... I can now do it without even using any power-ups.

(okay, maybe the odd one if / when I get distracted or lose concentration)

I've got 3 different 100% completion games saved.

Here's a screenshot from 2 of them with my QUB3D high scores (click to enlarge)

No cheats used, no photoshopping. Saved games are available on request.

Alas, you can see the flash from the camera on my phone reflecting back off the monitor...

So what I initially thought was a very difficult little side game, I now think/know it's really very easy, once you know how to do it.

Though now that I've played it to death, I can longer bear the sight of it and have vowed never to play it again, lol.

Sorry for rambling.

Thanks for reading this geeky garbage :-D

-Egg

QUBD (sometimes written as QUB3D or QUBED) is a video game in Grand Theft Auto IV which you can play on an arcade machine. The game is made by Rockstar Norh and is probably based on Tetris. The goal is to put cubes of the same colour next to each other. When there are at least 4 cubes of the same colour vertically or horizontally next to each other, they will disappear and you will get some points. If you want to get the highscore number one, you need to get 10 950 points. You can get in the top 10 highscores before you have this great score, but then you will not get the percentages and the Achievement / Trophy "King of QUB3D". The highest score is not so difficult to get, it's just a matter of patience. When the cubes get to the top of the grid, the game will end and the score you have on that moment will be your score.The cubes will always fall in pares of 2. First there will be only three kinds of colours: green, blue en red. From the moment you get at level 5, yellow cubes will come. At level 10 there will come pink cubes, and at level 15 orange cubes.

To get a high score faster, you can use specials. You will start with an empty powerbeam. Per cube you make with 4 cubes, the powerbeam will increase with one cube. When you get 4 cubes, you will have the possibility to make cubes. You can use the specials with for buttons. , , and on the PS3. or , , and on the Xbox 360. Every button stands for one special, to activate a special you need to press the button which has the same colour of the special. Here is a overview of all the specials:

- : with this special, you can choose a colour. The cubes with the colour you choose will disappear if you use this special. This comes in very handy when you almost reach the top. You can use this special with or .

- : with this special, you can let the cubes go downstairs slower, so you have more time to think about the place where you can put them. Although, there is an easier way to think about the place where you can put the cubes. By pressing or the left shoulderbutton. If you press this button, the game will ask you to quit the game, and, then you can see where there is space to put the cubes. Cancel the question and play the game further. You can use this special with or .

Once an arcade has been purchased, players can also purchase arcade games to add to it. Minigames are found in houses, bars, shops, and restaurants in the GTA franchise. There are 17 different retro arcade games that can be played in Grand Theft Auto Online. They are all parodies of other popular games or genres. Players can compete to get their names on the high score list, which will be visible on every console of the same game. They can also win rewards or trophies from completing challenges.

Invade and Persuade II is available in the Master Penthouse and the Arcade. There are multiple missions and stages within the game, and completing these missions will reward the player with T-Shirts. It can be purchased for $245,000.

Street Crimes: Gang Wars Edition is available in the Master Penthouse and the Arcade. 2-4 players can participate, and players can earn tees and a spray paint can trophy by completing challenges.

Badlands Revenge II is a shooter minigame. They must rescue hostages and avoid harming animals. Players can complete stages and challenges to earn a trophy and tees. It can be purchased for $362,500.

Space Monkey 3: Bananas Gone Bad is available in the arcade. A side scroller complete with banana bosses, there are only three challenges. Players can collect a T-Shirt by completing each challenge. It can be purchased for $360,000.

Defender of the Faith is available in the Arcade and is a minimalist game where players can control colorful blocks. Players can complete two challenges to earn T-Shirts. It can be purchased for $152,500.

Available in the Arcade, Penetrator is another simplistic minigame. There are two challenges in the minigame that will reward the players with tees. It can be purchased for $101,500.

Axe of Fury was added as part of the Los Santos Summer Special update. The minigame is a strength test that can reward players with T-Shirts for completing each of the two challenges, and a trophy for completing both. It can be purchased for $666,000.

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