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Hexterity (iPhone)


Review by Ben Briggs, March 02, 2009

iPhone integration (About)
  • Save state: Yes
  • iPod music: Yes
  • Status bar: Yes
  • Version: 1.0.1
  • Price as reviewed: £2.39
  • by Wooji Juice

Hexterity is a game along the lines of a Pipe Dreams title - you have a board filled with tiles that you may rotate to connect to each other. The object is to connect the glowing gem to itself - the bigger the path, the higher you score - but leave the gem too long on the board and it will overload, costing a precious life. It's a simple premise that actually requires quite a lot of thought and strategy - do you go for the longest run possible and realise that you cannot join it up, or do you play it safe and only use a handful of tiles? It's up to you.

There's a few other bonuses thrown into the mix - 'VolaTiles' explode at the slightest disturbance, connecting multiple gems together in a daisy chain awards combo multipliers, and green gems add a sizeable point bonus if you string them together with a regular gem. Upon clearing 8 gems from the board, you move up a level where the bonuses become more frequent and pathways become increasingly difficult to construct.

Control is done by either swift tapping to rotate, or by rotating it with your finger in a circular motion - out of these we preferred the latter as it seemed more intuitive eventually, once we got the hang of it. Once that happened though, Hexterity got addictive. There's something about the way it's presented - from the sublime particle bursts to the superb sound design, and the feel of real accomplishment when you get good at it. One thing we'd like to see is an actual countdown timer on gems - yes, they do glow red when they're about to overload, but a ticking number would show you exactly how much time you have to fiddle about with the game board instead of pursuing a smaller match.

Even though there's only one mode, it's a really good one and will easily win you over - especially with online and local high scores to sweeten the deal. The game's stunning presentation is unlike many puzzlers on the App Store, and frankly it's the sort of style we'd love to see more often.

Grade: B, Great

A surprisingly well presented game with a lot of challenge. Hexterity really does glow brightly.

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