xbox live indie game reviews

Did you really wish someone had slapped together a quick tie-in game after you watched The Day After Tomorrow? Have you ever fantasized of controlling the elements of earth, fire and water (sorry Planeteers, wind and heart didn't make the cut) to create a hexagonal world in convenient 3-d Tetris-y puzzle form? Do you love a game with such complex simplicity that it becomes supremely addictive, even though playing it makes you want to tear the skin from your skull? Well, it looks like your dream finally came true.

Hexement is a challenging foray into environmental engineering that gives you the opportunity to juggle the terraforming responsibilities of your favorite (real or imaginary) omnipotent entity. As the pieces fall from the heavens, you must act swiftly to place each tile in an advantageous position. Each of the three types elemental tile react specifically according to the environment they're dropped onto, allowing you to create fertile land, lakes, trees, forest fires, scorched earth, volcanoes, floods and earthquakes. The longer your world survives, the more points you will accrue. And, if you manage to create certain features like lush forests or deep lakes (to prevent turtle homelessness), you'll earn bonuses as long as they remain intact.

At first glance, this title may seem like some relatively innocuous Sims-esque world modeler. With its cutesy turtle game avatar, spacey ambient-noise soundtrack and its rainbow title on the title menu (a la Super Mario World) this game looks all warm and fuzzy. But I can assure you, the gameplay has the adorable cuddliness of a rabid Komodo dragon on a meth binge.

Hexement is downright brutal if you fail to constantly scan the module upcoming pieces in the upper-left corner and plan accordingly, so you really have to be quick to react as the pieces descend. You will most likely find yourself getting completely decimated by two features: the Overflow meter, which fills up as water spills off the board (which it does almost effortlessly- defeating me 95% of the time) or the Tilt beacons, that shriek at you any time your board becomes unbalanced. If that's not enough, there are also the volcanoes that erupt at the end of each time cycle to set your gorgeous groves of trees ablaze and earthquakes that occur if you create a four-block height disparity anywhere on the board. Trying to keep track of everything while panning and tilting your camera to keep an eye on the action is really quite chaotic at times, but that's why this exciting game maintains such high replay value.

In addition to all the previously mentioned single-player content, Hexement also has a local (no XBL) multiplayer competitive mode where you create your world while attempting to destroy someone else's that I can only imagine is at least twice as frenetic as SP. (I haven't checked this out, since I have no friends). There is also a single-player custom game creator, where you can arrange the landscape and play the any of the saved scenarios that you've created. There three game modes should provide you with plenty of ways to enjoy this game alone or with some friends (if you're lucky enough to have any).

Overall, this game is like 3-d Dr. Mario combined with the disasters of the original SimCity. I think it's equally frustrating and enjoyable, but there's definitely a bit of a learning curve to transition from the former to the latter, so prepare for a thorough ass-kicking for the first few hours. If you're the kind of person who likes to master a game in under an hour, Hexement isn't for you. But if you're a fan of cerebral-yet-frantically-paced puzzle (re)action games or attempting to bring order to a world of general chaos, take this one out for a spin.