H.E.X. review

By Nigel Wood, UK
for www.touchgen.com

Published: March 26, 2009

Okay okay, I said i’d never review a match 3 style game again. But i’ve broken that promise to take a look at H.E.X., a gem matching game that the developer promises adds just enough new to the formula to warrant a purchase.

As the name suggests, the game consists of a board of hexagonal gems, ranging in colour. Unlike traditional matching games where you must swap gems to group them into threes, H.E.X. gives you a sequence of coloured gems at the bottom of the screen which you must match on the game board above.

Nice particle effects!

To begin with, you are given a sequence of four gems to match. So for example you could get blue, green, green, and red. You must touch one of these coloured gems on the board and then drag you finger to select the remaining colours in the sequence, if you successfully do so, those gems will be cleared from the screen and replaced with a new set, as well as a new sequence to match.

You have a certain quota of gems to remove before the time runs out; doing so then takes you on to the next level, and larger chains to match. Powerups are available to aid you, such as the usual multi-coloured gem which you can use as any colour in your chain… as well as various bomb powerups which remove similar coloured gems in a given direction or radius.

Presentation and graphics

Clean and uncluttered. Simple to navigate menus with a dark industrial look to it which compliments the bright sheen of the gems. This helps in a game where sight reaction is important for success, and there’s a colour-blind mode which is a great accessibility feature.

Sound

The main sound you’ll hear is the shattering of gems, but there is also some cool retro-techno music in both the main game and menu screens.

Gameplay

Yes it’s another colour matching game, but at least it takes the formula and tries something new. Touch controls work a treat. My only problem is that the game feels a little too easy to begin with. However, the saved level progression means you can continue from the more challenging levels later on.

Gamelife

Only 16 levels, but you’d have to be seriously patient, not to mention skilled, to beat the game. You probably won’t, but you’ll go mad trying. Free mode is available which allows you to go all out and ramp up the difficulty. Where are the online leaderboards?

Final rating

A solid puzzle game in a now crowded market. If you’re still looking for a match gem game, then this is certainly worth considering! H.E.X. is available now for $2.99

Review disclosure: Any games reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note: the resulting review score is never impeded by this fact, all opinions are that of the TouchGen reviewer and not the developer. This is in keeping with our O.A.T.S oath. Read more about O.A.T.S here

3 Comments on "H.E.X. review"

Jay on Fri, 27th Mar 2009 4:22 am

lol. so different but not different enough?

Legend.inc on Fri, 27th Mar 2009 11:35 pm

Yeah. Not different enough for me to buy.

Marvin on Sun, 29th Mar 2009 10:45 am

well, i like it. its not that easy as it looks … especially in higher levels!

H.E.X. review

Final rating

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