Wii Fanboy Review: Art Style: Rotohex

Then, during subsequent attempts, I began to experience a bit more success. I started instinctively knowing how to position blocks, without consciously knowing what was happening. The world outside of my TV dropped away and I entered a prolonged Rotohex fugue state until the rush of falling triangles overwhelmed me and, half an hour later or so, I was dumped back into reality.
To me, that combination of total focus and trancelike hypnotism is the ideal result of a good falling-block puzzle game. You sort of forget about the world, and you even forget to think about what you're doing, and things just happen on the screen as your dinner gets cold.
Rotohex is, like Orbient, a remake of a bit Generations game, this time Dialhex -- and plays absolutely identically. A large hexagon slowly fills with different-colored triangles, and the player uses a hexagonal cursor to select and rotate groups of triangles to form hexagonal groupings of six same-colored triangles. Occasional powerups will change the colors of pieces or open a hole at the bottom of the playing field through which pieces will drop. When you're doing well, the game adds more colors. A round of Rotohex ends when the playing field is filled. The GBA game used only the d-pad and buttons to select areas, obviously, but Rotohex offers the choice between the traditional method and pointing, which allows you to traverse the field much more accurately and naturally.
In terms of visuals, Rotohex is a much closer remake than Orbient. It looks almost exactly like the GBA game. Skip took advantage of the Wii's processing power with a few subtle visual effects, like a reflection around the edges of the field, and a faint light emanating from the cursor area, but Rotohex could pass for Dialhex in screenshots. This isn't a complaint at all -- many bit Generations fans were put off by the 3D-ness of Orbient, and this shouldn't be anywhere near as offensive.
There are relatively few options: single- and multiplayer modes, and an endless mode in which triangles fall at an increasing rate while the game keeps count of your cleared hexes. But that's just par for the course for a WiiWare puzzle game, and to be honest you don't need more than just "clear hexes alone" and "clear hexes with someone else."
I alluded to the learning curve before, and I feel like I must stress this: if you're anything like me, you will panic the first time you play Rotohex. You may never want to play the game again. But try it again. Your brain will start to reconfigure itself to Rotohex mode.
Final score: 8/10





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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TWOO DEE @ Oct 28th 2008 3:58PM
I was planning on getting this come next payday but damn it if I'm not a sucker for a good puzzler - getting this tonight, for sure :)
igorponweed @ Oct 29th 2008 9:23AM
Her's a question. Which of the games is best? Cubello looks like the new tetris.
Sisyphus @ Nov 17th 2008 11:03AM
Once you get the aiming down, Cubello is extremely addictive and cheap. :)
igorponweed @ Nov 17th 2008 3:12PM
I meant rotohex
Bones3D @ Oct 29th 2008 10:19AM
This kind of sounds like that Hexic game that comes preloaded on the Xbox 360, only not as appealing.