True, you could not when using compiz with gnome either, as I did back then.

You could add more faces to the cube so that it became a slice of a pentagonal prism, hexagonal prism, heptagonal, octagonal etc. Or take one away so you were working on the sides of a triangular prism.

But you're right, there was no vertical freedom of movement. You couldn't use a Rhombicuboctahedron, cool as it might be :) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhombicuboctahedron)