QuickAdvice: Graduate from Words with Friends and Move Into HexaLex
HexaLex ($1.99) by Nathan Gray is a word board game similar to that of Scrabble and Words with Friends, but with a big twist.
Have you been playing that latest craze, Words with Friends? Well, it's time to move up from that, and HexaLex is the perfect game to get into if you're a seasoned veteran of Words with Friends or just a word game fan.
HexaLex takes the traditional game board of Scrabble and turns it into something completely new - hexagonal tiles, so that words can be played in three directions of lines: horizonally, vertically, and diagonally. This adds a new level of strategy and possibilities.
To play, you must first set up a HexaLex account, which will allow you to play games online (and that's really where all the fun lies with these types of games). It's quick and easy to set up. Once you've registered and activated your account, it's time to play!
Since this is different than the traditional crossword game, there is a tutorial game that you can play through to get the basics of HexaLex. It will explain all the steps to you and tell you what you can and can't do. The board also has the lovely 2L, 3L, 2W, and 3W that we've grown to take advantage of.
There's also a neat feature called FULL EXCHANGE. That means that you can exchange your entire hand of tiles, but you don't skip your turn. This is great when you just can't find a word to play. But please keep in mind you only get THREE of these per game, so use them wisely.
When you play a word, if it's red it will show that it's an invalid word. This will show up in all the directions, so it helps to see what you can and can't play and what you need to modify to attempt to make a word. You can zoom in on the board, recall letters, exchange tiles, and see the remaining letter count. I mean, if you're familiar with Words with Friends, then you should be familiar with the basics and layout of HexaLex.
The graphics are just gorgeous in the game, and fluid. Everything is responsive to the touch, which isn't always something you encounter with some apps.
If you want more of a challenge, there can be up to 4 players per game, so it becomes a deathmatch of words for you and three friends. Who can emerge the victor in this vocabulary free-for-all?
Friends can be invited by email or by Facebook (a wall post will be posted to inform your friends you're playing HexaLex). You can also search for usernames, email addresses, recently played against, or search your Facebook friends (assuming they have connected HexaLex to Facebook).
Push notifications will alert you when you have a new invitation to a game or when it is your move in a game. These notifications will tell you how many points the other player got with their last word as well (very informative and lets you see how much they're catching up by or lagging behind).
As you play, you will discover medals and achievements, which add a whole new level of replayability on the game, since you'll want to get as many as you can. You get medals for getting a certain amount of points, and a 'Best Play' award if you play your best word yet. The game keeps track of your achievements and statistics over time, which is nice to look back at every now and then and see how you do in the game overall.
This is seriously a fantastic game that provides a fresh new perspective and twist on a traditional favorite. In fact, I will go out and say that this is even better than the traditional, because of the huge strategy that is involved by simply changing the shape of the tiles on the board. The graphics are just amazing and beautiful to look at, and the UI is slick and easy to follow.
So are you still playing Words with Friends? It's time to graduate from Words with Friends academy and move in to HexaLex.
Oh, and since you can see my gamer name from the screenshots, feel free to invite me to a game if you can't convince all your Words with Friends buddies to move on over!
