A great classic revisited
I used to love playing the original in the Arcades way back.
I know that makes me old as hell. xD
Anyway, you get 2 games here. The original Arcade version with the cabinet design and the new remake Rebooted version.
Both are great and easy to get used to.
The game works fine with the Keyboard and mouse and also with a 360 controller.

So what's new here?
Pros:
The Rebooted version offers updated graphics with new level design and new challenges and Steam achievements.
You can unlock new characters, each cost a certain amount of gems that you can find throughout the game.

Cons:
The repetitive soundtrack in the Rebooted version, hearing it over and over in each level. It would have been nice for a variety of soundtracks. And as far as I see there are no audio options to raise and lower the in-game music volume so you can't play your own background music. :(

But still for $5 USD, you can't go wrong. It's a great game and an awesome classic. :D

As a gamer who was around to play this game when it first hit arcades in the 80's, I was expecting Q*bert Rebooted to be a fun, modern take on the original. How wrong I was.

The problems begin with the classic version. Why they didn't just emulate the original ROMs when they hold the rights to the game is bewildering. Instead what we're given is a poorly programmed mess of a port that gets many things wrong. Two-thirds of the sound effects are missing. Ugg and Wrong Way are completely silent, as are Slick and Sam, who also don't revert the colours on the cubes (and sometimes change the cubes to the RIGHT colour instead). No ditty plays when you collect the green ball that freezes the board. The game sometimes continues to move enemies after you've cleared a stage. The unused discs don't score any bonus points when you clear a level, instead of the 50 bonus points x level you should get.

As for the Rebooted part, it is one huge cluster as well. The hexagon pattern removes the difficulty and strategy of trying to clear the bottom corners of the level. Other than the resolution, nothing graphically stands out. The level music and the map music often play at the same time. Q*bert only has the one voice sample and it seems to play randomly instead of when he gets hit. The music is MIDI quality at best and elevator quality at worst.

Steer well clear of this reboot. Not even nostalgia goggles can protect you from this crummy game.

I want to like this game. It's not even bad as a Q*Bert game! It's got the whole original arcade Q*Bert in here! Here is why I don't:

It controls like crap and it makes you grind.

I'm not talking about the gems, even, which you collect here and there to unlock different skins for Q*Bert. Those are silly and a harmless bonus. It's the stars. See, when you begin a set of stages, you see three objectives. "Complete the stage", "Complete the stage under (time)", and "Complete the stage with (score)". Finish one of them and you get a star, it shows you on the stage select screen how many of the 3 you have on each stage, and how many you have overall.

You need to have X stars to continue on at various points. You will not have X stars if you just beat each world. This is not a problem if you're talented, EXCEPT... you only get one star per run at the world. You can hit all three goals, and it does not care - you're going to have to play it three times for three stars. So you're stuck re-running stages you've beaten already and it becomes a real chore. These gates are pretty regular! There are 5 out of a 36 stage map. I got to the second and went "I'm out".

The other problem: this game uses the mouse to control Q*Bert. Only the mouse. If there is any other single button or input option, I never found it/got it to respond. It ALMOST makes sense, because of the isometric perspective + hex-based structures in the game, except for the fact that it's just such a pain to have to trundle around with clickclickclickclickclick. You can't even hold the button to make him follow. This will also apply in the emulated "Classic" mode, too, so don't think you're free of that there. (edit: I have since discovered that somehow, the base installation came with the buttons unset for me. There is in fact a keyboard control scheme/way to make him follow a held mouse, even if you have to close the game and reset it to activate it - no in-game options screen at all. The latter is super-risky if he misinterprets which way you're pointing and flies into the void, but this gripe is something I was wrong about and I leave the proof of my idiocy here.)

Bottom line is, the game as a whole is way over the line past "acceptably janky" into "it all works, but it works WRONG" territory. Please don't buy this.

This PC port it suffers from serious gameplay problems. Even the 8-bit Nintendo version had continues making it superior to the PC version, its another example of a PC port where oddly the free legal online versions using java emulating the arcade game are superior to actually buying the game. Such a core underlying principal of game design should be PLAYING the game, somehow if you buy this your limited to playtime, this happened one of the Metal SLug games only letting you have 20 credits where the legal online free versions offer unlimited continues.

Using a controller the controls feel delayed, this is a game of speed and precision like most games, but when moving somewhere it feels like the game takes a second to detect it then move the character, this results in death, which results in no fun since dying over and over due to the game being unplayable sucks.

The rebooted side is interesting with a map and all that but its classic qbert, a fun game but done wrong in this PC port. Why bother making a game if they dont want us to play it? Such an odd idea to just crank out code because people can to make a game then forgetting people may want to play that game. This game gives the feeling that people just knew how to put code together to make a game but had no clue how to make it playable, also visible in the sort of wonky controller support where you cant exit the game without using the mouse or keyboard, meaning it can require up to 3 peripherals to play Qbert, why not 4 or 5 maybe VR goggles. Keep in mind the original qbert just had a joystick, not one button, yet this game requires three peripherals, figure that math out...

Worth one quarter, the arcade equivalent since that is what a person would spend before walking away from this abomination.
Rating: 4/10 Value: $0.25

Brings back the old Q*bert, and the new update adds even more levels and visuals. This comes with the classic, and of course the rebooted version. If you love the Q*bert series, this will be for you.

whats the star is qberts name mean why is it censored

The NES port of Q*Bert was my 2nd NES cartridge when I turned 3, and got my NES. I'm 29. Known Q*Bert my entire life, and wished that there were more games out with this character/gameplay model. A true classic. This port is good, the remake is fantastic for the modern age, but my only complaint is this: Fix the g****** controls! They're looser than Jenna Jameson in a threesome with a horse! lol

Now, I know what you're thinking. "F--- yes¹, Q*Bert's momentum is still going strong after his appearance in Wreck-It Ralph, the greatest anything in the history of everything. Here is a modern update that will do the original arcade game justice and also get me in with the JonTrons and the Jessie Rogerses of the world. We'll all go out together for strawberry malts and talk about how Square Enix be cray-cray."

But alas, it is with a heavy heart that I write this review. I, foolish squanderer of $5-something, am duty-bound to warn you that getting the attention of the JonTrons and the Jessie Rogerses of the world just isn't that simple. And also that Q*Bert: Rebooted sort of capsizes itself in the modernization process.

If you dive in, Xbox 360 controller blazing, you'll notice pretty quickly that the game only kind of supports controllers. Rebooted was clearly designed with mobile devices the mouse in mind, as it's the only way you can navigate the menus and get anything done outside of the panel-hopping you so eagerly seek. The main event makes a strong case for going mouse-only; the analog stick is an option, but it's pretty janky. Simultaneously forgetful and unforgiving, the controls weren't above tossing me a cardinal increment off from the direction I pushed from time to time, making me miss an angled (more angled?) jump or outright tossing me into the abyss. Not even the included original version is spared from this madness. Home interpretations of the arcade game's controls have varied wildly over the years, but this one takes the cake. The bad cake with coconut shavings that gives you indigestion.

You know how to play Q*Bert. The original game is that, but with bad controls. But the titular Rebooted half of the package? Hooboy. After jumping right in to the first world, all of which are dotted with three stars indicating objectives just like mobile games, you'll be drip-fed the mechanics of the game, one per stage just like mobile games, before being let loose to hop on panels and collect gems for unlocking such enticing character reskins as Q*Bert in Armor and Girl Q*Bert. When I say "let loose," I only mean until you hit a star wall and are forced to double back to clear more objectives in previous levels this was totally not a mobile port crapped out on Steam, why would you even think that. It wouldn't hurt if the levels weren't so samey, from the plain background to the barely-different stages. It's an inherent part of the design of the source material, which was part of its charm (and possibly technological limitations at the time), but the simple design doesn't work at all in tandem with this gameplay structure, the most infamous of phone-ins for the illusion of replay value.

Sound-wise, the reboot is legitimately obnoxious. Everything that makes a noise just makes the one sound, a frankly impressive step down from the (small) variety the characters had to them in the original game 20+ years ago. The one short song that loops during all the stages plays Q*Bert's most famous exclamation (you know the one, it sounds like "ECKSFEEAHZEEDAYWAYAH") over and over again. No music at all would've been preferable.

It's a real shame the game turned out the way it is which, coincidentally, is how many mobile games turn out; the modern Q*Bert is aesthetically pleasing, with cartoony jumping and death animations. They'd look great in a more vibrant world, one comprised of something even marginally more substantial than polygonal pyramids in black space. But for all the advances gaming has made since 1982, it seems poor Q*Bert's still doomed to be denied proper entry into such a world. Until he goes back and does it again with a faster time.

Someone, somewhere among the staff enjoyed having a hand in making this game. But I didn't enjoy playing it. And as for you? Don't let Rebooted taint your feelings for the original. If you have a PS3, do yourself a favor and buy the arcade game on the Playstation Store. The controls are spot-on, and you can experience Q*Bert in all its glory with a neat arcade marquee, instead of a sad mobile... fart bee.


¹or maybe should I say @!#?@! yes, like what Q*Bert says, ahahahahaha

Feels a bit like a mobile port but then again, it's Qbert. If you are nostalgic about 80s arcade games, you'll like it. If you want something of substance, this probably isn't your game. The controller controls are wonky (XBox 360 / One controllers are the two I've tried) and I just ended up using the keyboard but there is a bit of lag sometimes between pressing the key and QBert moving which makes later levels frustrating. With both the classic mode and a new "rebooted" version, it's a good time waster.

Now all we need is the old arcade box setup and were good, eh! This game is breath taking retro game brings back the good old days. When we poped quarters into the arcade mechines, and played hours upon hours standing over a small screen using a rather nobby joystick and a single push button for special features. Now we can all play this game from home in our own comphy chair. Great deal for $5 bucks, and has some really kool new additions.