I Love Hue, I Love Hue not

Zut Games are releasing a new puzzle game in January 2017 called I Love Hue, for mobile devices.  This game employs a novel concept of reordering different coloured mosaic tiles into a correctly ordered spectrum.

As frustrating as this game may appear to sound, this is one of the newest in the line of meditative game releases, with no time or move limits.  Essentially this is a game to pass time with no clear objectives except to keep on doing the same ol’, over and over.

I may sound cynical but that is because I am in two minds about this type of game.

On one hand, having no real challenge is for me akin to playing DOOM in God mode.  Sure, you can explore the game, but without the real chance of failure, is there a challenge?  And is much of the fun then lost?

You can rightfully argue that there are many games that sway so heavily on the easy side that there is no chance of failure.  For instance, I am loving Pokémon Moon at the moment, but you can hardly call the game a challenge.  More an addiction.  And many games are brilliant for that mindless factor that can be quite meditative.

Then on the other hand, I Love Hue is a puzzle game.  And frankly I do not find puzzle games meditative.  They are hard and a challenge and cause me to miss my bus stop on the way to work.  I love playing these games because of the very real chance of failure, and the sense of accomplishment is often a sense of relief to “never have to do that level again”.

I Love Hue certainly looks pretty, and if it was branded as a ‘fast-paced game against the clock ‘ I would be right on it without a hesitation.  The game has been dubbed as the developers as “a gentle journey into colour and perception”.  Perhaps I am wanting more 50 shades of grey with my puzzle palette than a gentle journey, and we will see next month whether this game will provide a challenge suitable for work travels or would have been better suited as a pretty cool screensaver.

Check out the trailer for I Love Hue below: