Honeycomb Beat
Score: 90% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Konami Developer: Hudson Soft Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 Genre: Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: At first glance, I thought Honeycomb Beat would be a Hexic clone for the DS, but boy was I wrong. The display is split into two views. The top screen contains colorful visualizations similar to what you would see in Windows Media Player and the bottom screen is the actual game board. Depending on which mode you are in, you will either see hex-tiles crawling up from the bottom of the screen or a set pattern, but in either case, the colors and visuals are crisp and the variety of backgrounds and visuals you can unlock throughout the game are big enough that everyone should find something that fits their style. Personally, I favored the original Space image. Music is another big part of the game, and while it doesn't directly affect gameplay itself, the effect it has on your pacing while taking on the puzzles or, more noticeably, the Evolution Mode, is very obvious. Typically the music takes on a techno style with a lot of electronic beeps and whistles.
Gameplay: Honeycomb Beat has two gameplay modes, but in both cases, the basic principle is the same. With the stylus, you tap (or beat to use the game's term) a hexagonal tile to cause it and all adjacent tiles to flip. Your goal in flipping these tiles is dependent on the mode you are playing. In Puzzle Mode, you will go through some 200 or so preset patterns, as you try to turn all of the tiles white in a certain number of beats. When you start the level, you have a Beat Counter that is specific to that puzzle and there is some combination of taps that will clear the puzzle in that amount of moves. You can go up to 8 moves over that number before you fail the level. If you clear the puzzle before you fail, then you are allowed to continue, but you don't get the "Excellent" marquee that goes across the screen when you are done. The Evolution Mode takes a more Tetris standpoint. Here, a wall of hex-tiles are scrolling up the screen and you are trying to clear out rows by changing all of the tiles in a row to the same color. As you earn more points, your brain level "evolves" and you go through the ranks of various organisms (from mitochondria to jelly-fish on up). Both modes also have a few different types of tiles. One tile has a number on it and it requires that many beats before it will actually go away and cause the tile to flip. Another tile type, called Vector Tiles, when flipped, cause all of the tiles in the direction it is pointing to be flipped as well. These two types really add a level of complexity to the puzzles and help make the game stand out.
Difficulty: Honeycomb Beat's two modes, Evolution and Puzzle, each have two different feels when it comes to difficulty. Puzzle Mode has a nice, gradual build up. Each area has 10 levels and there are a total of 20 areas. Typically, the first couple of levels in an area introduce one of the mechanics (Vector Labels, tiles with Beat Counters, a combination of these two types) and as the area goes on, the puzzles become more and more complex. I found this escalation to be nice and gradual, so that I hardly noticed the change in difficulty. In fact, it was interesting to go back and retry levels I wasn't able to clear after going through a few more areas, because those seemingly hard levels were much easier once I plowed through the more complex ones. The other mode, Evolution, on the other hand, I found to be difficult right off the bat. This mode consists of 10 or so levels of non-stop action and, even though this mode introduced the new types of tiles as you progressed through the levels, it was a much steeper slope each time.
Game Mechanics: As for controls, Honeycomb Beat consists of taking your stylus and tapping the screen or dragging Vector Tiles onto the play area. Since the scheme is very simple, we won't be talking about that a whole lot here. Instead, I wanted to talk about how well Honeycomb Beat handled the flip-tile mechanic. As I mentioned in GamePlay, Vector Tiles cause tiles in the direction the arrows are pointing to flip once that tile is activated. There are three directions a Vector Tile can point: Horizontal, 45 degrees and 135 degrees (which would be the 45 degree vector pointing in the opposite direction). If a Vector Tile gets flipped (but wasn't actually tapped, so it wasn't activated), then the arrows flip also (in the direction the flip came from). This means that if a 45 degree vector is flipped from its left side, then it turns into a 135 degree vector. If a Horizontal vector gets hit from the lower right corner, it becomes a 45 degree vector. It might be hard and a little confusing to picture when just describing it, but when you get into the game and see it in action, all the math makes sense and you learn how to deal with it very quickly. Honeycomb Beat is a must-buy for puzzle fans and non-puzzle fans alike. The simple mechanics and quick Tutorial Mode mean that anyone can pick up the stylus and tackle this game. I wouldn't say this is the game to buy the DS for, but if you have one already, then go pick it up.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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