Hexcell is a puzzle game where you have a big grid of hexagonal shapes with numbers in them telling you how many adjacent pieces are part of the solution. You then need - in a minesweeper fashion - to discover every right and wrong cell of the map in order to win. As the levels go on, they add new mechanics and I didn't really enjoy them, since it tries to turn the game into a weird picross, but then again I've beaten the whole game since it's fairly good and I love puzzlers.
The most basic puzzles are the best part of Hexcell. Numbers around cells is the simplest things this game has to offer and I really found them relaxing and rewarding to complete. Even then, trying to get perfect runs was a bit frustrating, there is no button to quickly reset, you have to go back to the menu and go back to the same level. A reset button would've been helpful. The levels grow in complexity and in difficulty, but the concept of clicking hexes still kept me trucking along.
Then they introduced picross-like elements of columns and diagonal rows having a set number of blue hexes, which wasn't too bad but diluted the core experience of the game. This was compounded when they added lines and brackets around these numbers to show if hexes were consecutive or not and the notion of 'consecutive' was also a bit wonky. You'd think that only three hexes literally next to each other are 'consecutive', but that wasn't the case. The added mechanics of hexes having a number of correct answers around them being consecutive or not was good, since it build on the core idea of the game instead of diverging too much.
There were a few levels here and there where I wondered if the solution was to be found by luck. One of these is included in the screenshots for this review. These situations left me baffled because I couldn't help but wonder if the puzzle was properly designed or if there was something I couldn't grasp about it. Both situations are not good, but I've persevered and completed the game, clearing each level with no mistake.
And overall, Hexcell is pretty good. I would've preferred it to be only hex-number-based puzzles instead of adding these weird columns and rows later on, but that's what I had. Regardless of my feelings on this design decision, I've completed it in its entirety, so it's safe to conclude that I have enjoyed it plenty. A good puzzle game.
