When I was grudgingly handed back control of my character, my options were limited in one sequence I had to make my way through a truculent gang of Brits, pressing triangle when I was commanded here, and square when I was commanded there having survived that round I was whisked off to Columbia to achingly make my way through a chase over the rooftops that should have been exciting but, in its insta-death guise reminiscent of ‘Dragon’s Lair’ from the 1980s, just made me give up. I had high expectations for the trilogy’s conclusion, but I didn’t make it further than the first twenty minutes, and most of that was taken up with pressing X through the cutscenes.
I had previously loved the first games in the series, despite the general uneasiness I felt at the main character’s near-genocidal kill count.
I recently gave ‘Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception’ a go since it came up for free on the Playstation Network. There are no graphics, so to speak, but merely solid lines and an ever-changing palette.Ī failed attempt at staving off the circling walls times of two seconds are not atypical for beginners.Īnd yet in its restricted gameplay ‘Super Hexagon’ is far more honest than even the biggest budget games of today.
It’s the most lusciously minimalist piece of software I have ever seen. There are only two controls: you can either rotate the screen clockwise, or you can rotate it anticlockwise. You are charged with keeping a small triangle on the screen away from the walls that encircle and approach it. The game has only one mechanic, and it is simplicity itself. I say ‘experienced’ for good reason, because its striking minimalism, hypnotising score, and flaring visuals envelope me in a way that I haven’t known since I first played Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s ‘Rez’ on the Playstation 2. It is also the most interesting game that I have experienced in the last five years. ‘Super Hexagon’ is an example of the former case. But are they classic because they still have something to offer, or because they’re old and remind us of our childhoods? I often think that the latter is more true. Browse iTunes or the Google Play store and for every new game there, you will find the port of an 80s classic. Motivated by nostalgia and by the common knowledge that nostalgia sells, we look to the past to see what we can learn, but also what we can harvest. Terry Cavanagh’s ‘Super Hexagon’ - more than just retro nostalgiaĪs technology moves forwards, so its adherents look back to see where we have come from.