Magnetic: Cage Closed
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Magnetic: Cage Closed
You don't have to think outside the box to solve Magnetic: Cage Closed's puzzles, but there are a few head-scratchers.
Magnetic: Cage Closed's reliance on imprecise platforming and nondescript storytelling makes the game's prison setting an unintended and accurate metaphor.
The many unique twists of Magnetic: Cage Closed do so much to set it apart from the other first person physics puzzlers that have tried to dethrone the genre mainstay. Its carefully constructed puzzles, accompanied by clever world building, make it intriguing and sophisticated, but never to the point of pretention.
It's hard to replicate Portal's success, and in the process of following a very similar narrative to that which can be found at Aperture, Magnetic: Cage Closed loses its way on more than one occasion. Thankfully, the magnet gun is fun to use, and most of the puzzles are smartly crafted with a great sense of accomplishment, pacing and difficulty. If you're only lukewarm on first-person puzzlers and need agripping story, better options exist, but if you enjoy the genre and can get over the short length, this is an easy recommendation.
For those wanting to try to fill a Portal-shaped hole in their gaming lives, Magnetic: Cage Closed might be a passable quick fix, but that's it. Ultimately the game doesn't do enough to establish its own identity and as a result, it feels like a rushed, cheap knock-off.
[I]t's more like Cube Zero than Cube: it's fun if you like that sort of thing, but if this was all you saw you wouldn't be that interested.
Magnetic: Cage Closed isn't an amazing game but it isn't terrible either. It's a decent puzzler which fans of the genre should enjoy and is a good puzzler for the Xbox One. If you love these types of games, I would say go for it, but for those who aren't, it's nothing really that you need to check out.
