The new games have new Cheat modes, or Cheat options. In the 2D levels, it is pretty obvious which are bad moves to make in the Nubix line-based games. In the 3D levels, it is not always easy to see which are safe or "non-scoring" moves to make, meaning not to give your opponent an easy win move on the next turn. In the 4D levels, it can be a bit of a challenge to see which moves are good moves and which are not-so-good moves.

             The 3 different types of cheats are designed so that one can get a little bit of help or a lot of help. I think of them as training wheels until a person can see and understand the levels on their own. I have even incorporated some of these Cheat moves back into the 3D levels for those who may want or need help with those levels too.

        The first level of cheats I believe goes back to the 2005 / 2006 versions. When it is the computer's turn, you can turn on the hint to have the computer player announce that in its opinion, there are no good moves left for it to make, meaning it cannot make a move which will not give you a score next when it is your turn. For me, that is a wake-up call to watch what that move will be because if I miss it, I will lose points instead of gaining them. But the game also tells you each last move so you can also look it up using the grid if you miss it.  

        The second level of cheating goes that one better instead of just the computer telling you whether it did or did not just give you a winning move. If you turn this newer help mode on instead after it goes it will say, somewhere on the screen, how many "good" moves which are now left, meaning how many safe moves you can choose from for you to make which are left on the board or level. This is called the Super Hint under the Options menu. This can be very helpful on the 4D levels to tell you how many good moves are left that you are just not seeing, so how many to look for. This can help you get better quicker than anything else I could think of.

         And if even this amount of help is not enough, and sometimes I would think it might not be, you can choose to activate an even more obvious type of cheating. Not only can you have it tell you how many good moves there are left, you can have it even tell you what those moves are. You can also make those moves by double-clicking on them right from the list. This can make it easy to quickly jump ahead over the setting-up phase of the game and get right to the chain of win moves. This is called the Best Hint on the options menu.

         Combined, I think these 3 different levels of cheating can make it possible for people to play the 4D levels reasonably well while still learning them, or not completely understanding them. But after awhile, these levels of cheating can be easily removed one at a time until none are needed to play the game well at all.

Click here for the main Help page for the new Cubix / Smash games.