Though far from the world’s biggest Tetris fan, I certainly appreciate the game’s brilliance. In fact, I took Russian in high school largely because Alexey Pajitnov was a household name for me. All I knew about him was that he lived in the Soviet Union. But how the hell did this guy from Russia come up with something so genius?! Seemed it might be wise to learn of his culture and upbringing.
Unfortunately, college-prep language classes didn’t grant me any insight on Pajitnov or his falling block puzzle design. Perhaps this is part of why, when I play a puzzle-based game today, Tetris is always lurking at the back of my mind. It begs unfair comparison: is this title as simple? As elegant? As timeless?
The answer to these questions is almost invariably no. So why not slide as far up the scale from such criteria as possible? Alexey Pajitnov may have tried to do just that with Hexic.
Instead of organizing a relentless stream of dropping blocks, players shift a crowded field of hexagonal tiles. Creating color clusters clears the clustered portion of the board, and tiles fill in accordingly. So whereas Tetris is all about maintaining and creating space, you’ll never get ANY in Hexic HD. Likewise, time is a non-factor here — except under special conditions such as the Timed mode, there’s no rush to action. This is in stark contrast to Pajitnov’s first game, which forced the player to think on his or her feet, often simply reacting more than actually formulating plans.
Which is one of the things that makes Hexic somewhat unique: it’s a low-pressure puzzler. But its real standout feature is the game-changing eureka moment that comes when players first discover starwalking. Early on, in-game text reveals the conditions necessary for generating a starflower. This happens when six like-colored pieces are arranged such that they surround one piece of a different color. The resulting silver star allows the player to rotate its surrounding pieces freely, thereby adding an option that complements the normal move. These starflowers, once you’ve created two or more, can be clustered together, offering players an unprecedented degree of control. After all, a single starflower, when in the orbit of another starflower, can be used to shift its neighbor, and vice versa, until the pair are essentially “walking” around the board.
Starwalking is layered design at its finest; Hexic HD can most certainly be played (and thoroughly enjoyed!) without it. However, the challenge of creating starflowers adds depth and, whether revealed through creative thinking or accidental discovery, an understanding of the starwalking technique opens the door to true mastery. While nowhere near so simple or so elegant as Tetris, Hexic‘s design reveals the potential richness inherent in complexity.
Maybe there’s something in that Russian water…
Tags: Adam Saltsman, Alexey Pajitnov, Carbonated Games, Gamasutra, Hexic, Hexic HD, MSN Games, Tetris, tetrominoes, Wikipedia
