So I initially downloaded Huebrix to my iPhone while in work. I thought, “I’ll give it a quick shot, 2-3 minutes, just to see what it’s like”. Next thing I know, I’ve not done any work for the past half hour. Whoops!
Huebrix is an excellent puzzler, I’ve never quite felt that “Just one more go” with any game as much as I have with this one.
Your goal is to fill all available cells in the grid with a colour, no colour can overlap and colours can only fill a set number of squares (the number on the colour will tell you). Naturally, you start out with just one colour so it’s easy peasy… then you’ll get your 2nd colour. Along we go, and we find some grid cells look different. They might have a small dot of colour in them already, meaning only that colour can pass through, or they might have an arrow dictating which direction you must go through when using that cell. There may be some cells that are solid blocks, so you have to go around them, or blocks which have a cross on them meaning it’s your finishing point. Other types of blocks will appear during progression too. Of course you then get puzzles which contain a variety of different cells. Grid come in varying sizes too.
In order to move a colour you simply touch and slide it in the direction you want to go. Make a wrong turn and you can just slide back the way you came. Faster times are given awards, along with a slightly cheeky, “Gold Awarded. Impressive, for you”. You can see your time at the top, along with the Gold Award time to beat. If you exceed this time it will then show you the Silver Award time to beat and so on. Also, on the puzzle screen at the bottom you have the option to use a hint if you get really stuck. If you run out of hints you can buy more via the in app store.
I found the start of this game highly addictive. All the puzzles are pretty easy to start with, so you just zip through them. Then I was stumped suddenly…. It took me a moment to realise I was trying to cram 4 colours into 3 finisher cells, and not every colour needs to land on a finisher. These quirks along with the increasing complexity ensures that at some point you’ll have to start thinking strategically about how you want to go about filling the grid.
You have your classic Puzzle mode, where you can pick your Level Pack (Starter, Easy 1, Medium 1, Medium 2) with additional level packs available to buy, including Hard and Insane modes. In addition to Puzzle Mode, there is a Quick Start mode which lets you just jump straight into a puzzle without further menu options.
If you are anything like my nephew and are good at making mind boggling puzzles for other people then there is a mode where you can build custom levels, and the app allows you to send and receive levels between friends via the Game Centre which I think is a brilliant addition to the game. If you’ve got a friend who thinks they can work their way around any of these puzzles, try your hand at giving them a stinker of a puzzle! The custom build mode on the iPhone can be a bit tricky as some of the buttons are a little small, but on the iPad this is no problem.
For the first hour or so of playing I had my iPhone muted as I was in work, so when I finally had a chance to play with the music I found they are quite funky and very well suited to the game.
This is a must buy if you enjoy these types of puzzles. It’s neat and tidy, it’s got longevity, a custom mode I’m not sure what else you could really ask for!
9 crazy colour conundrums out of 10