Review: Symbol6 Redux

Over the recent years we’ve been seeing a rift between casual gamers and the core gamers. This notion was spawned once developers took note of the casual audience, and started catering to them with offerings that hardcore gamers often look down upon. Nintendo for a while held a large focus on the casual market, with their loyal fans left bickering and hoping for attention once more. This is the gaming community we have today.

Let’s shift gears and take note of Apple, though. They’ve been rapidly making gaming a vital part of their App Store marketing. The store offers loads of casual games, as well as a good amount of hardcore titles. What’s interesting is that now, more than ever, even those die-hard gaming enthusiasts are seen playing these casual games thanks to the iPhone/iPod touch being such a widespread entertainment success. Enter: Gogogic’s Symbol6 Redux, a unique puzzler that, on the surface, seems like another casual title, but after spending some time with it one comes to the realization that it’s one of the most addictive puzzlers you can get on the platform.

Symbol6 Redux is an updated version of the original iPhone/iPod touch title, simply named Symbol6. The game is a pure color-matching puzzler, the likes of Bejeweled and other such popular puzzle titles. Where it differentiates itself from the rest is in the actual execution brought about by the simple but hard-to-master gameplay. This isn’t a game where you have to match 3 or more objects of the same color; instead, Symbol6 Redux provides a very refreshing twist to the common formulaic build-up of most puzzlers.

Regardless of which difficulty you play on, of which there are 3 (kids, normal, and extreme,) the game presents you with level after level of hexagonal-shaped grids. Each of these grids consists of 7 smaller hexagons that each are represented by their own color and symbol. Your objective is to slide the small hexagons around with the intention of matching them with an incoming one of the same color. Successfully doing this will increase both your combo and score counters. The path to success isn’t as simple as it sounds though, and before you know it you’ll have a certain unmatched hexagons come towards the grid that’ll mix things up a bit, both figuratively and literally.

These unwanted comet-like blocks have several functions , each of them altering the playing field in some way. In the earlier levels you’ll be dealt with a pretty trouble-free effect, for the most part. Once the the shape makes contact , suddenly, the color tone of each of the individual hexagons on the grid change. Then you get on to the later levels, and the effect is definitely more felt.

After finally getting a good grip on how to go on about matching all shapes with ease, this comet-like hexagon comes in again and this time, it strips the grid from color, making you rely on each of the little hexagons’ symbols in order to match them with incoming ones. But wait, it doesn’t end there. Before you know it, all the shapes in the grid will get mixed up just when you’re about to match them with incoming shapes, thus resulting in your health bar rapidly decreasing as you try to quickly match all incoming shapes. This may be annoying at first, but it all works in making the game one that’s definitely rewarding as you proceed from level to level. What could have made the experience better, in regards to level-progression, is more tracks in the game’s decent soundtrack.

For the most part, the music in the game is standard upbeat techno-like tracks. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not horrible, but after going through a dozen or so levels, the music doesn’t really change much. Being a game that relies on the concept of “matching” it would have been beneficial to have the tracks actually match with the growing intensity of the game as you get to later levels. Apart from this, there’s another small issue that could be a more noticeable one depending on the size of your fingers, as funny as that sounds. It also depends on the what platform you’re playing one, seeing as how iPad owners will have an upper-hand (what a surprise).

This issue comes in the form of accidentally tapping on and sliding around unintended shapes. In a game that relies heavily on your ability to quickly match incoming shapes, this could do a lot to harm the experience if you have big fingers. This only applies to the iPhone/iPod Touch crowd though, seeing as how the grid and each shape within it or bigger on the iPad in order to utilize that platform’s hardware.  Don’t feel bad though, just because the visual are better on the iPad, that doesn’t mean iPhone/iPod Touch users won’t get a good looking package.

As aforementioned, Symbol6 Redux is an upgraded version of its predecessor. Those upgrades come in the form of boosting the vibrancy of the visuals. The game looks really nice, and you won’t tire of seeing the same backgrounds repeating themselves because of it’s effectiveness. Play for long enough, and you just may end up seeing colorful hexagons upon closing your eyes.

“Playing long enough” isn’t an impossibility, thanks to the game’s  replay value, which is usually the case with every superb puzzler.

This is a game that is extremely replay-friendly thanks to the brilliant execution of such a simple concept. Even after level after level of color-matching, followed by countless game-over screens as you reach higher levels, you’ll still find yourself having a good time. You can aim for a high score, or even no damage-runs (good luck with that), and all of this can be done with the game’s singular mode. Here’s some advice, fear the game’s ‘Extreme’ mode, it will put your reflexes to the test, and if you’re utilizing the optional accelerometer feature, you’ll be moving your iDevice around like a mad-man, trying to rotate the grid in order to match with incoming shapes. ‘Normal’ mode also proves to be a challenge as you keep progressing, but what serves as a truly convenient difficulty level is the game’s ‘Kids’ mode.

I’m not a parent, nor will I be anytime in the immediate future, but for those parents out there who are casual gamers  and have kids of their own, the game’s easiest setting will be a blessing for them. Why is that? Well, the game can also be used as a tool to teach young children color familiarity and color differentiation. This definitely makes good use of the traditional ‘easy’ mode most games have.

With the release of Symbol6 Redux, gamers now have another solid puzzler to choose from in the App Store library. This is a game that you can take wherever you go. It’s also one that you can use as a breather in between big console releases. On top of offering an addicting puzzler for hardcore and casual gamers, the game also benefits young children. Add to that it’s ‘Game Center’ compatibility where you can share high scores with friends and you’ve got yourself a very satisfying package that could have been made better with the addition of varying tracks. At only a dollar, $2.99 for the iPad version, this is a game that truly belongs on your iDevice’s home screen.

Symbol6 Redux
iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
	Publisher: Gogogic Developer: Gogogic Genre: Puzzle Release Date: December 9, 2010 MSRP: $0.99, $2.99(iPad) ESRB Rating: E