UFOTOFU: HEX

[b]ufotofu: hex[/b] is a palindrome-based matching game. think of words like racecar, madam, or the lyrics to weird al's [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfIikFnvuI]bob[/url], replace letters with colors and that's what you're doing here. I never played the original mobile game mentioned on the store page but this has hexagons, making that one obsolete and this infinitely better, yet still disappointing. there's a [b]really inconvenient tutorial[/b]. 3 pages of looping animations, can't pause, no idea how long each one is, gotta wait for them to start repeating, lame. the mouse is the most comfortable way to play but keyboard and controller are also available everywhere. always nice, especially from a mobile port, but [b]keys aren't rebindable[/b] (q/w/e/a/s/d and space). dragging and clicking individual tiles both work, can go back on your selection, even hold the mouse for a few seconds over it to cancel the whole thing. [b]3 game modes[/b], have no idea about the differences besides board size and turn limit because they went with an [b]always unfortunate text-free interface[/b]. lazy at best, even if it's creative and actually takes more effort, useless at worst. not to mention they could've ticked all 100+ supported languages for interface on the store page for better visibility, not just english. there's text in the credits, not just names, so I guess they went total honest instead of ticking everything, gotta respect that. anyway, there's always a randomly selected tile, gotta create the longest palindrome from there, then click the line of tiles on the bottom to confirm it. points for you on the left and the non-numeric turn counter (why? it has numbers on level select) gets reduced, and you're shown a summary of your achievements once the run is over. the 3 modes offer 5, 10 and 10 turns (no, not even 15) and as I said, no idea what the 3, 4 and 5 means. bigger boards, yes, but it's not the minimum length for a palindrome, as I first thought, nor the number of available colors, as I thought next, a sort of easy/medium/hard thing. either way, [b]can't have more than 3 of the same thing in a row[/b], gotta mix things up. and funnily/sadly enough, [b]mixing up is what they failed to do[/b]. no leaderboards, local or online, no endless mode, no challenges or campaign, nothing. [b]no timer[/b], you either play a [b]5-turn or a 10-turn game[/b] on a random board and that's it. [b]the game saves after every turn, quit anytime and continue later[/b], so there's that. and an on-screen save indicator (often missing) and a run in progress is marked on level select as well. colorful presentation, as you can imagine, didn't like the audio, very basic settings, but they're available while playing. only separate volumes, resizable windowed mode, and a cursor toggle to change mouse to gamepad. or something. text-free nonsense, you see. it took away the cursor but moving the mouse still moved the selection. if keyboard and mouse work simultaneously, why would a controller need a toggle? might be something else, whatever. [b]no colorblind settings in a color-based game[/b], well done, but every color has a different shape at least, should be enough. bottom line, [b]there's no meat on this bone[/b]. good idea, controls are mostly fine, but would've been better if they went for clarity instead of a gimmicky text-free ui, and added more and longer ways to play. I lose interest in endless/random games after an hour or two of random sameness (still recommend worthy ones, of course), in this case it was about 10 minutes. 10 turns instead of 5? wow, total game-changer... and the only one here. even as a relatively rare take on matching games and a low price (I paid half price during the first discount ever 2 years after release), [b]it's not worth bothering with[/b]. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1595020]otteretto[/url], another game with the same idea, is not done too well either, but maybe there is (or will be) a third, more enjoyable attempt at this.

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6142328/][b] With 1,100+ reviews, make sure to follow The Cpt Froggy Club Curator Page for plenty more![/b][/url][/quote] UFOTOFU: HEX: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ What do the following words have in common: redivider, civic, radar, level, rotor, kayak, reviver, racecar and madam? They are known as palindromes because you can read them from the left to the right and vice versa. Isn’t it clever? Yes, it is! It can be a date, too; we had a couple in 2021, and here they are: 12-11-21 and 12-22-21. Just mind-blowing. Wouldn’t it be fun to do it with images/icons? The answer is yes, with UFOTOFU: HEX! UFOTOFU: HEX is a casual puzzle game developed and self-published by Inflorescent Games Co-op on the 22nd of January 2022 and the Steam platform. The game consists of three levels, and your main goal is to achieve the highest number of points within a certain number of turns. You can take as long as you need per turn to create the longest chain possible. Each level is represented as a hexagon that contains a specific number of hexagonal tiles. The small grid has 19 tiles, and you have five turns to record your best score. The medium grid has 37 tiles, and the large grid has 61 tiles, and you have 10 turns on both to achieve your highest score. The grids will be filled in by four different symbols/icons, and what I like about this game is that you can trace and untrace your chain if you make a mistake. The other aspect I enjoyed is that you really need to concentrate on the grid and try to visualise your next chain, even with the ability to trace and untrace your moves. Your brain will keep ticking, and it is quite addictive too, which is always a bonus. However, I think the game needs more levels with tasks, such as creating three chains of 13 icons within ten turns, for example, or making seven chains of 10 icons within a time frame, to add a little variety. It would provide more content as well as a sense of difficulty progression that it doesn’t have now. Don’t get me wrong, it is refreshing to see this type of puzzle game, and it is different to the conventional match 3 puzzle games, but it definitely needs more content. I look at it this way; what is the biggest chain that I can achieve on any of the grids? Can I replicate it each turn? If, yes, I’ll achieve the maximum number of points, and that’s it! There is not more to do which is a bit of a shame, and I mean it in a positive way. If you are colourblind, the game is advertised as colourblind friendly, which is great and an additional bonus for the game. The graphics are ok. The music theme is soothing, and you can turn it off if you don’t like it. I did not encounter any issues but wished the game had more to offer. The price point is reasonable. Positives: ~~~~~~~ + Three different grids + Easy to play and quite addictive. + Refreshing puzzle game + Colourblind-friendly + Soothing theme (music) Negatives: ~~~~~~~~ - Needs more content, perhaps levels with tasks - No achievements - No trading cards as yet UFOTOFU: HEX is a refreshing casual puzzle game that would benefit from more content! 6/10 Key provided by the developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own! [quote][url= https://www.zeepond.com/zeepond-reviews][b]READ EPIC REVIEWS FROM “THE CPT FROGGY” AND MATES, UP NOW ON ZEEPOND, THE HOME OF THE ALMIGHTY FROG![/b][/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/thecptfroggyclub#curation][b]FOLLOW THE CPT FROGGY CURATOR PAGE HERE[/b][/url] [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZchpsMdA2hDYJKZgOPdo_w?view_as=subscriber][b]SUBSCRIBE TO THE CPT FROGGY YOUTUBE CHANNEL[/b][/url][/quote]

A minimalist puzzle game with a killer core mechanic. Creating the palindromes is so much more of an interesting and challenging puzzle mechanic than most match 3 style games. There isn't really a 'difficulty' to the game since there's no external rewards for making longer chains, which is positive in the sense that I can put in as much effort as I want without pressure, but on the downside means there's less incentive for me to push myself to spend the time to find the really big chains. Even steam achievements would go a long way for this. My biggest criticism, and it's mostly a nitpick, but I REALLY wish it didn't lock you from continuing to move after finding a palindrome. It's frustrating to be trying to get a longer chain and be cut off early (e.g. a chain that starts and ends with red-blue-red can't be made).

A relaxing, zen-like experience which hits that sweet spot where you end up achieving a sense of flow.

Bite-sized but polished and supremely calming. The puzzle design is a chewy mix of freedom and interesting constraints that naturally bring out fun challenges.

Gorgeous game with a relaxing atmosphere to distract you from your brain overheating trying to figure out how to get a chain above 21. Rather than blitzing through levels like most match-3 games, you are eternally trying to better yourself, which is admirable and damn difficult. bonus points for releasing on 22/1/22

This is one of those games that is easy to learn but tough to master. The controls are completely intuitive, but it's also nice that the game is explained entirely without words. I played the previous version of this game on Android and was pleased to see that it no longer automatically completes the palindromes. The number of times I'd get a 3 chain because I was an idiot >_< Verdict: Gimme those zen brain burns.

This is a really fun, colourful game that puts a nice spin on the classic tile matching puzzle formula. The only drawback for me was that the games are limited to either 5 or 10 moves dependent upon which board you choose, so I would really love to see a new game mode that allows for longer play. Perhaps a timed game where creating long chains adds something back into the timer, or an endless mode where the minimum allowable chain length progressively increases. You get the idea.