The best tough video games are stimulants of optimism. Super Hexagon delivers failure with ferocious frequency, yet it would be wrong to assume that playing a game like this is a mere act of masochism. The creator, Terry Cavanagh, is already lauded for his vexing side-scrolling action game VVVVVV, which more or less made him chief tormentor among the indie game development movement’s celebrated scene of software sadists. Super Hexagon, like many wonderful games, can be mistaken for both abstract art and self-inflicted punishment. Should the triangle bump into any wall, game over. The player must safely glide the triangle through the ever-tightening maze.

The player controls a small triangle near the eye of a spiraling maze, a whirling, colorful, psychedelic bathtub drain of barriers and pathways that swiftly converge toward a central point. This is a game that, like Tetris, delivers pleasure with each inevitable failure. A player may last a full 45 or longer, but only after days or weeks of practice. Super Hexagon is a bull ride of a video game, an endeavor in which success means surviving even a scant five seconds. For most, it'll be more like a single life in the game itself: thrilling, a worthwhile learning experience, and over quickly.For iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) not rated For some, it'll be an intense months-long relationship. Super Hexagon is fun, focused, elegant and compulsively challenging. Saturday's review: The sobering light of the morning always brings perspective. In moments when it has me in rapt attention on its dancefloor, it's the greatest game in the world. It's about momentum, speed, grace under pressure. It's the ludological purist's answer to Hotline Miami. It's a puzzle game, about memorising routines and overcoming mental blocks.

It's a game you dance to, as much about surfing music as AudioSurf. It's about defeating a never-ending, corporeal chiptune. 84%įriday's review: Super Hexagon is about reaching escape velocity from your own feeble reflexes. When I turn away from the game now, the real world keep spinning. Everything looks slower, because I've wired my brain to run faster. When my times begin to plateau, I skip up to higher difficulty levels, play those for 15 minutes, and then return back down. I've discovered I play better when I'm in conversation with someone at the same time, so I start chatting to whoever's nearby while I play. I've learnt to use my peripheral vision, so I can start each turn earlier.

My leaps in ability, small though they are, all feel like I'm hacking my brain rather than improving my dexterity. Thursday's review: Super Hexagon has three controls: left arrow, right arrow, and your brain.

Super hexagon game