Hue is an very inventive game that doesn't use any control design that I have ever seen in a game and while the graphics are primitive, it doesn't need great graphics in order to pull off what they were going for here. There is an interesting story built in even though the world is not meant to mirror any sort of real human place.
This is purely a platformer with tons of collectibles and it held my interest for the requisite one hour that I play every game I download.
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The "story" if you can even consider it that, sees you arrive in a small town that is nearly devoid of all color. Then as the young boy you come across a color swath that is added to the right control stick. Now every time that you select that color swath, bricks or barriers of that color disappear and make it possible for you to proceed.
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This seems generic and simplistic at first but as the various screens or levels go by you start to realize that this is going to involve a lot more than simply eliminating the stationary brick wall in front of you. Later on certain elements like balloons that will take you to the top of a platform are a certain color and you only have a little bit of time when rising up to decide which color swath you are going to switch to in order to make the balloon stay, the platform you are standing on stay, but make the wall to your right disappear so you can proceed.
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There are more time-sensitive areas as well such as platforms that once you stand on them they start to crumble away and the platform to your left or right isn't there yet so you have to change to a color that will not hide either one of them all while jumping across to avoid the lava below. These levels were admittedly, very frustrating but not impossible. It is just an old school brain-teaser puzzle game that will actually make you think a bunch while in the next room it may test how quick you are on the draw.
Dying means starting the whole room from scratch and this can be super-annoying in some of the levels that involve moving many different sets of blocks from one side of the screen to the other.
Other than the jump button, only the right stick is used and for someone like me, this eventually resulted in my right hand kind of hurting so when the hour was up, I was ok with walking away from the game.
I think that this game is definitely worth playing and I applaud the developers for doing something that is completely inventive that actually works. There are a lot of games out there that introduce new control schemes that are just a mess but this one is tight and responsive. The question that remains is are you logical enough and fast enough with the right control stick to actually get through it all.
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There are 7 total stages with around 10 levels in each and as you would expect, they get progressively more difficult. In one hour I made it through a mere 2.5 of these levels and when I switched it off I had enough and don't feel compelled to go back to it again.
I think this game is fun for a few hours and I recommend it for anyone that can get it for free or for a very low price
Games I have tried in my journey to play every PS-Plus Extra game for at least an hour
- Windbound (survival game with rogue-like elements - not recommended)
- Magicka 2 (top-down humorous multiplayer hack and slash-sort with immense spell system - maybe recommended)
- Tearaway: Unfolded (charming casual 3D platformer with inventive graphics and gameplay designed for all ages - recommended for casual players)
- Spiritfarer (casual simulation / resource-management style game with an extremely good story - recommended for all)
- Observation (point and click survival sort of... interactive game of sorts set in space - found it very boring after just one hour and do not recommend)
- Gabbuchi (simplistic puzzle game that I feel is better suited to mobile devices. Not recommended on consoles)
- The Messenger (8-bit style action/platformer that is a throwback to original Ninja Gaiden. It's simplistic fun. Recommended)
- Megadimension Neptunia VII (typical JRPG with some adjustments made to combat for uniqueness. Could be fun and I lukewarmly recommend for someone willing to dedicate 50 hours to a turn-based RPG)
- Monster Jam: Steel Titans 2 (monster truck racing game that will appeal only to people who are already fans of the sport - not recommended for any other people)
- Entwined (Visually appealing rhythm pace game that is very easy to pick up but gets repetitive after 30 minutes or so - recommended for anyone that can get it for free.)
- 2Dark (8-bit graphic survival horror/stealth hybrid. The game becomes extremely difficult really fast and therefore failed to hold my attention - not recommended)
- Virginia (interactive-cinema...not really a game and it is over in a couple of hours. Not recommended)
- Trials of Mana (simplistic action RPG that will definitely appeal to the casual gamer that is a fan of old-school RPG combat mechanics - recommended)
- Journey to the Savage Planet (FPS exploration game in a semi-open-world environment. The game is intentionally silly and I loved it - recommended)
- Resogun (arcade-style single-screen SHMUP that will get boring to most people after an hour or so. Not recommended)
- The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (point and click adventure game that doesn't work on consoles and is just irritating to play - not recommended)
- Mighty No. 9 (it's Mega Man but terrible. Definitely not recommended)
- Moving Out (delightfully funny moving company simulator. It gets boring and repetitive pretty quickly. Recommended for a short laugh)
- Last Day of June (a sad story done in 3rd person perspective that while an interesting story and/or life lesson, quickly becomes repetitive and dull. Not recommended)
- Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom (action adventure RPG with an inventive combat system that unfortunately becomes very boring very fast. Filled with bugs and invisible walls, I lost interest within the first hour. Not recommended)
- Hue (inventive puzzle-platformer that whose basic controls are the reason why it is fun. This is also the reason why it gets old after a couple of hours)