Hue: A Palette of Colors

On August 30, 2016 the developer Fiddlesticks brought us the colorful puzzle platformer game titled Hue. The story in Hue is told as your progress through the game and solve puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty. Throughout the levels/puzzles you’ll find letters written to you by your Mum, she’s gone missing, possibly kidnapped by the mischievous Dr. Grey. And in order to get her back you’ll need to discover every color on your color wheel and solve every puzzle.

VISUALS/MUSIC:

Immediately upon queueing up and playing I thought of the very old school classic hand-held game Mr. Game & Watch. Hue is reminiscent of Mr. Game & Watch in its simplicity and esthetic. The majority of the levels are black and grey and I believe this adds to the brightness of the colors when they appear, or when you are changing the colors to solve puzzles. There’s almost an etheral feel to the game. This feeling is amplified by the soundtrack. Over 30 original musical tracks add to the wonderment of exploration  and adventure as you search out for clues to find your missing Mum.

GAMEPLAY:

The gameplay in Hue is what you would expect from a puzzle platformer, press X to jump and use the directional pad to aim your landings. The added difficulty comes with using the R3 button to change colors to unlock or solve the puzzle/level. This isn’t too difficult when the puzzle involves moving a few blocks or rectangular boxes but can be quite tricky later in the game when Hue is on a speed run you have to change colors by using cat-like reflexes. Personally, I enjoyed the rapid puzzle solving skills the most as it harkened back to what I would consider classic gaming. I would have to memorize the level as it was presented to me and memorize the Color Wheel and hope that I remembered correctly.

LIKE A RAINBOW IN THE DARK:

Hue stands out as a very enjoyable experience and worth every penny spent on the PlayStation Store; $14.99. It’s inventive and charming. I never felt that the puzzles were too difficult to solve and only old school determination and trial and error would see me through to the end. On a Prism Scale Hue would rate as a Dispersive Prism. It breaks up light into spectral colors based on the colors wavelength and shows you something magical that was right in front of you the entire time.