Super Rub ‘a’ Dub

Being a first time PS3 owner I logged in to the Playstation Store to see what was available, I must confess I was more than impressed with what was on offer but what would my first download be?  The brightness and seemingly quirky nature of Super Rub ‘a’ Dub instantly caught my eye, plus the fact there was a playable demo.  After a fairly short download time and install I was playing an utterly charming game which drew the attraction of my young daughter, what’s it all about? Read on and I’ll tell you.

Some of the best games are the simple ones and this fits that category perfectly, you have a tray type landscape that is filled with water and has one large rubber duck in it.  There are also baby (awwwww) rubber ducks encased in bubbles which you have to move over to free them, they then follow you around the tray.  You then have to get the ducklings to the exit as quick as you can, sounds easy?  Well it is to start with but it can get fiendishly hard.  Of course I have so far failed to tell you that the game is controlled solely by moving the Sixaxis controller to move the tray around, kind of like a tilt the ball through the maze puzzle. At first it feels totally alien but, within a few goes, it is great and you’ll soon have your ducks zooming round.  Of course there are some perils to navigate, on some levels clockwork sharks will pursue you, but with a flick of the controller your ducks jump and the shark is turned upside down for a while.  Some levels also have no edges to bounce off so you also have to guide the ducks very carefully but it never becomes tiresome, indeed it can prove to be quite a challenge.  There are three difficulty levels to get through: fun, tricky and tough and they each have 20 stages (or tubs as they call them). I blasted through easy and am currently enjoying the harder challenges.

As with most games there are leaderboards on offer for each tub and you can even watch a video of the top three performances, how do they do it?  I know that when this was released it got some bad reviews but for less than a fiver (just) I reckon it ticks every box for an enjoyable game.  What makes it so enjoyable? Well it’s easy to play and if you see someone playing it you can’t help but watch.  It is genuinely different to anything else that is on offer and that is good.  Most of all it is clean, easy fun which some may baulk at but I love it.