Game Review | Hue

The short version: This is a game that you need, and I say need, to play. Hue is like the love child of games like Limbo, super metroid and paint. Yes paint. It’s a stylish puzzle platformer with beautiful music and a charming story that could bring tears to a stone gorilla’s eyes. At the price it’s selling for and the amount of systems it’s available on, you need to buy this game!

 

The Long version: Hue, is one of the main properties of color, defined technically as the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to, or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow. Orange and violet are the other hues, for a total of six.

You’re all probably wondering why I felt the need to give you a lesson on colors, well it’s simple really. This particular game is all about colors, specifically the ones I just mentioned.

Hue (the game) is a puzzle platformer that follows a young boy who wakes to a world of black and white shades similar to games like limbo, however unlike limbo the world Hue inhabits is filled with other people going about their 2 dimensional black and white lives. You (Hue) are soon given the ability to view objects of different colors, which opens up more areas for you to explore. Each area consists of a series of rooms with color based puzzles for you to solve. Upon completing each series of rooms you are rewarded with the ability to view a new color to continue your adventure.

During my time with it I found the game’s plot to be very charming, one might go so far as to call it sugar sweet. Especially because of the eloquent female voice which you encounter at the beginning of each new segment of the game. I won’t spoil who the voice belongs to, but if you play the game you’ll soon figure that out, and why that voice so significant to the plot of the game.

 

Hue_Screenshot03

 

Graphically Hue is nothing that’s going to stress any kind of hardware. It’s a simple looking 2D game with a few effects that make it look like it’s a hand drawing off the pages of a kids sketchpad, but that doesn’t prevent it from being captivating. The way the colors change the environment around Hue, and the way the 2D animations all look in motion, it begs to be seen, to be explored. Still images or videos of the game don’t do it enough justice, it needs to be experienced. It begs to be.


That experience includes a set of mesmerizing classical score that accompany you on your adventure. For fans of classical music, you’re in for a real treat. The music is so good that there were moments when I put down my controller and simple sat in my chair listening to it as I lost myself in the beauty of what I was listening to.

 

Hue_GIF_MechanicComplicated

 

As for the way the game plays, well just like everything else, It’s exceptional. The controls are tight and simple to grasp, and the game paces itself really well so there is no need to worry about any sudden difficulty spike. When you first start the game you are able to use just one color, so the puzzles are more along the line of figuring out how to move objects in the rooms to get to the exit, and by the time you have all the colors you’ll be switching between colors like michelangelo painting his next big piece while dodging obstacles and jumping from platform to platform. The color switching mechanic is handled by using the right stick on the controller while the left handles movement, the A  button makes Hue Jump and X allows him to grab objects. This control scheme sounds simple, and it is, however it scales really well from simple puzzles to more difficult sections that will have you switching colors mid air while platforming.

 

Final Verdict

All in all Hue is an amazing game. If you haven’t figured out by this point in the review, allow me to spell it out for you. I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS GAME! It’s just the kind of game one needs for a trip or maybe a date with a very special someone. It’s both simple and complex at the same time in every way you can imagine. Even the story, though simple, if looked at from a certain point of view it will have your jaw drop while your mind gets blown away by it’s hidden complexities. At the price of $12.99 USD / €12.99 (EU) / £9.99 (UK), and it’s availability on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita (cross-buy), Xbox One and Windows PC, it’s a steal of a deal, one that everyone reading this should take full advantage of.

A copy of Hue for PC (Steam) was provided by Curve Digital for this review.

 

Qudduws Campbell

That messy hair bloke: Romantic, Food lover, Gamer, Sports Fan, Manga Reader, Tech Head, Podcaster... Pretty much do a bit of everything.