Hexic

This puzzle game is readily available to anyone willing to download it from the Xbox Live. It's free so the fact that you don't really have to pay a cent to have access to it makes it at least a one time event in worst case scenarios. Of course, anyone who wasn't born yesterday knows that must be a reason why this is free above all else.

It's a pretty straightforward experience really, you're presented with a screen full of colored hexagons — the amount of different colors depends on how far into the game you are — which you can maneuver 3 at a time to create triplets. If you maneuver them and they find a match any piece involved in the match will automatically vanish; if somehow nothing comes of it, they simply rotate back to its original positions. So simple it could be said that it's a phone game, those kinds that people play on the subway because there's absolutely nothing better to do that doesn't involve giving even the least amount of attention to. Playing it on a home console is a whole new deal for those.

Case closed, it's free because it's not that interesting to begin with. It's slow-paced, so you'll have to think a lot through when making a decision of matching, but not so that it feels indeed rewarding for ultimately reaching conclusions or even results. Sure, like all simple puzzle games it has depth, maybe occasional depth beneath its simplicity, but that's not a hook that gets the player by the neck and demands attention; if anything it's just fortuitous for those who are already into it and delving in feels like time well spent after all.

There's actually a natural path toward beating the game when it's all said and done. Make matches of three, eventually starred hexagons will appear for bonus points, take advantage of that to score big. Then try to make a hexagon with the hexagons — six pieces around one — to create a star piece; an actual star piece, not to be confused with the starred colored hexagons. Once you form a hexagon with the star pieces you create a black piece. Once you get at least 3 black pieces, make a match with them to win the game. Sounds simple, but that's far from it.

It would be hellish but in time you'd get the pieces you need to beat the game, that wouldn't be much of a problem if something didn't cause mayhem along the way. The problems arise when bombs get into the screen, they have a set amount of moves that the player can perform before they blow up. If they do, it's game over. To neutralize bombs you need to make a match with their respective colors. That's easier said than done since sometimes they get dropped somewhere where no colored match is possible for their own colors. You have to well administer the field when they come along.

By making a certain amount of combos you get to advance levels, the game gets harder and more interesting once that's the case. At first you'll probably keep turning pieces until you get matches but soon enough you'll realize that's not gonna get you far. Managing possible hexagons is a much more intelligent choice. Still, forming hexagons is pretty tough even when you know what to do and how to stack pieces.

To top it all off you can choose three different game modes, they don't change much, just the overall flavor of how you'll face the challenge, the challenge itself is all the same. Marathon, time attack and survival. In marathon you just have to worry about bombs, in time attack you'll have time ticking as you go about, and in survival leftover hexagon blocks will be cemented within the level when you advance levels.

You can choose the difficulty level in which you want to play, they don't actually make the game harder per say, they just sever initial segments of the game. In normal difficulty you play all the way from level 1, on hard you start in level 3 and on insane you start from level 5. The maximum level you can get to is 7, but reaching level 7 isn't a problem at all, getting out of it is the real problem.

If you have time to spend and access to Xbox Live you can have a go at this simple puzzle game. Most people will only pick it up once or twice and move along to better, more interesting stuff out there, paid or not. Really, the fact they didn't even try to sell you this counts for their favor, but that's not something you should be concerned. There's nothing groundbreaking to be found here, nor remotely fun to tell the truth, but it might just be your cup of tea, who knows. It's not really a sin not to expect much from a free game anyway, and if you don't really get anything out of it, at least you won't feel fooled.