If there's one thing the Wii has no short supply of, it's puzzle games.
The latest one to hit, Art Style: Rotohex may not do anything different
from all the other ones out there, but it's still a really fun and
addictive puzzle game.
Rotohex is one those games that sounds simple, but is really quite
challenging. The game tasks you with hexagons with the triangles found
on the playing field. Making Hex's (which are what the game calls the
hexagons) is pretty easy in the beginning, but it can get difficult
pretty quickly. The main cause of that is that the rate the triangles
fall at is increased over time, and other colors are introduced as
well. The number of colors in play can make it difficult to make Hex's
quickly when triangles are falling in at very fast rate.
But thankfully the game doesn't increase the difficulty that quickly in
most of the modes. Sprint mode (one of the four game modes) is the only
one that extremely difficult from the beginning. This mode starts you
off with a half-full playing field, and has more triangles falling in
at very fast rate. The goal here is to form six Hex's of a particular
color in the fastest time possible. This is, of course, much easier
said than done. It doesn't take very long for the playing field to be
filled, which makes forming Hex's very difficult. It's a fun mode, and
provides a nice change of pace from the other modes; especially sense
two of 'em are basically the same mode.
Solo and Endless, share so many similarities that they might as well
have combined the two modes into one. Both modes task you with simply
making Hex's, the only difference between the two is that Solo mode
tasks you with making six Hex's for the eight colors the mode throws at
you. While Endless--as the name implies--won't end until the playing
field is full. Out of the two modes, Endless is the one with more
replay value. Solo will probably stop getting any playtime once you've
unlocked Endless and Sprint mode, seeing as Solo doesn't keep track of
high scores, whereas the other modes do. But considering that the game
doesn't feature any leaderboards, the fact that Solo mode doesn't keep
track of your high scores probably isn't a big deal.
Still, it's disappointing that there's no leaderboards, especially
sense that's pretty much standard for puzzle games these days. The game
is still good without it, but even so, it would have been a nice
addition, along with online multiplayer.
Speaking of which, the multiplayer in Rotohex is pretty much the same
as the multiplayer modes found in other puzzle games. The mode allows
up to two players to compete to fill the other player's playing field,
which is accomplished by making enough Hex's for black triangles to
start falling into the other players area, which will fill there
playing field a lot faster. The mode isn't anything special, but it's
still really fun.
The presentation is pretty nice as well. The mirrored edges of the
playing field are a nice little touch, and the soundtrack is good as
well. The only real problem with the presentation is that it isn't much
of an upgrade from its Game Boy Advance counterpart, Dialhex.
All in all, Rotohex doesn't do anything new or different, but it more
than makes up for it with its addictive gameplay. And at 600 Nintendo
Points ($6) you'll get plenty of hours of entertainment for hardly any
money at all. There may be plenty of other puzzle games on the Wii, but
Rotohex is still well worth a look from anyone looking for a good
puzzle game for real cheap.
