A wonderful thing has happened to the Wii lately.
Nintendo have decided to release a range of games for the Wii Ware shelf. So far the Art Style collection includes three games Cubello, Orbient and Rotohex.
The series is a resurrection from a Japan only release called Bit Generations, for the GBA in 2006. The Games were intended to have simple graphics, simple game play and great replay value. They ticked all the boxes for games on the go and they did it well.
The aim of Rotohex is to rotate Hexagons. (hence “Roto”-”Hex”) Each hexagon is made up of six segments that fall one at a time and these segments are different colours.
By rotating the segments you must build up hexagons of the same colour in order to remove them from the screen. As I said before simple, construct to destroy pattern, we’ve seen it in Tetris, Puzzle league and others alike.
Rotohex also has a very nice difficulty curve. You start with two colours, and when you have completed six hexagons of each colour, a new colour appears, then you must complete another six of that colour for the next, and so on.
For those who have a competitive streak in them, Rotohex features a Two Player mode as well, same principle applies and again, like Tetris first person with a full screen loses.
To be honest there is only one criticism of this game that I can make, and that is the music when you first start. The word irritating doesn’t do it justice, just the same dulcet tone again and again is enough to make me reach for the mute button on my TV remote. However I do feel guilty for even mentioning that, very quickly the game redeems itself.
For every new colour that comes into play, a new beat is added to the music, this slowly builds into a very intense and enjoyable track that gives the feeling of tension needed in most puzzle games that give the player the adrenalin rush needed to try and panic them into making a mistake, also helping to contribute to the game’s difficulty curve.
So the Important thing, is it worth a purchase? Personally I would say yes. Any fan of puzzle gaming will love Rotohex as it resurrects a tried and tested formula and presents itself in a very unique and interesting way. I would also recommend this to gamers who enjoy any game that can be simply picked up, played, and put down again. The games nature makes it great for the odd 5 min fix of gaming while you wait for a friend or partner to get ready before going out or simply as a quick break from study or work.
The game costs 600 Wii Points (£4.20) and for that price the game is an absolute steal and is great value for money, something that everyone can enjoy.
On Friday I will continue my review of the Art Style series as I take a look at Cubello.
Fish
This sounds very much like the addictive and compelling gaming of a well thought-out puzzler.
How does it compare to the similarly-themed Xbox 360 game Hexic? And would someone familiar with one of them enjoy playing the other?
Compared to Hexic, Rotohex plays nicer as you can move them one space along as opposed to rotating your 3 tiles all at once like in Hexic. That’s in no way to say that Hexic is a bad game, I just prefer Rotohex for that lovely, Tetris panic like charm that Hexic lacks, which is ironic as Hexic was made by the guy who created Tetris. But if you did enjoy Hexic I can see no reason why you would not enjoy Rotohex.