QuickAdvice: Hexius Brings You Frantic Strategy Fun
Hexius ($0.99) by Phasic Labs Ltd. is a strategy game in which you must match tiles on the board while attempting to get bonus tiles and rack up points.
Hexius is a refreshing new challenger in the foray of iPhone puzzle/strategy games. The iPhone is perfect for puzzle games, and I'm pleased to say that Hexius is a great game to add to your collection. Let me go into why.
The basic premise of Hexius is to match the tiles with each other by color and shape. The colors are red, green, blue, and yellow. The various shapes include: diamonds, triangles, circles, plus symbols, and stars. Once you select a tile, you'll have to select the rest of the same tile that are currently on the board.
But don't think it's that simple. There's more to it than simply matching tiles. If you cross a hexagon twice, you create a Bomb Bonus. These Bombs cannot be touched but will explode when two tiles are connected in the same path of the bomb.
A Reveal Bonus is created if you jump over a tile rather than touching it. The Reveal Bonus will highlight tiles so that it will be easier to connect them.
The last bonus type is the Freeze Bonus, and that is created by completely surrounding one or more tiles. The triggered Freeze Bonus will slow down time to help you rack up more points.
As you can see, there is a bit of strategy involved in order to get as many points as you can. It is a new and fresh twist to the sea of iPhone puzzle and strategy games.
The game currently has three game modes: Time Attack, Level Challenge Mode, and Strategy Mode. In Time Attack, you are given 90 seconds and your goal is to score as many points as possible. The key to racking up a high score is to get bonuses, so think fast!
Level attack has the goal of destroying a set amount of 'targets' in order to progress to the next level. Oh, and you only have a certain amount of time to destroy these targets. Once you get past the level and move on to the next, some more time is added to the clock. The goal is to get through as many levels as possible, so get connecting!
The final mode is Strategy, and is the most relaxed mode. This mode allots you 30 moves with no time limit, so you can take your time to think of the biggest chains that will rack up the most points. It's a nice change to the other modes, which can get pretty crazy.
Those are the three modes. All different, but require the same strategy - connect the hexagonal tiles in a way to snag bonuses. If you need a refresher on any of these, there's a tutorial in the game that will walk you through it all. So if you need to know how to get a higher score in your games, going through the tutorial could help you out.
Hexius integrates with Openfeint for plenty of achievements and leaderboards. The leaderboards are for both global and between your friends. Every week there is a new global leaderboard, so you can always keep trying to get to the top. The more you play, the more you'll keep finding yourself coming back.
Don't like the sounds? You can turn those off. What if you don't like the colors? You can change it from the original theme to Doodle or R/G Color Blind.
Overall, the game has a simple premise but requires a vast amount of strategy. It'll leave you coming back for more, at least every week. It's well worth your buck and is universal. Definitely a keeper in your iPhone game collection.
