On a whim I bought Neuroshima Hex on the iTunes store for my iPhone to help me pass the time travelling across Nebraska & Iowa. Now I will admit I’m a cheap bastard, and I can’t find myself buying that many apps. Before this I only bought one: Flight Control, which is fun but not as much fun as Neuroshima Hex!
Neuroshima Hex started as a board game from the Polish publisher Portal Publishing House, more specifically a tile-based war game without dice. Now Big Daddy Games has turned this gem into an iOS app. I was impressed with how simple the game was, but the depth of strategy is quite deep for a quick game. There are 4 Armies and each have certain strengths & weaknesses. For example, the Molochs’ have good ranged attackers, while the Borgo is practically all melee. Each Army has 35 tiles in its stack, 1 is the HQ which is your life, when it goes to 0 you lose and if neither player goes to 0 when the tiles run out it’s the player with the most damage taken loses. In a way its similar to Magic: The Gathering where you summon creatures to attack and defend, but the key to Neuroshima Hex is how they are arranged on the board. As the name suggests, the game is built on Hex shaped tiles that have notations of where the unit attacks, the strength, initiative, and any special powers. This may sound like a lot, but the game does it so simply that it becomes so second nature after a few games.
Now in your stack of tiles is units, modules, special maneuvers, and attack tiles. What is interesting is you can’t attack until you play an Attack tile or if the board is ever filled completely. So you have to think about does the attack help you or your opponent more, because when an
attack tile is played you go down the initiative order of each unit and the highest initiative go first at attacking; so slower units may not even have a chance to attack because they are already dead.
The game starts with each player placing their HQs, then drawing up to 3 tiles every turn, discarding 1, and placing 0-2; until a HQ goes to 0 or everyone’s tiles run out. It seems to be more of a puzzle game then an actual war game, so much so that there is a second App called Neuroshima Puzzle, where you are given a game in the process and you need to figure out the moves to win.
Neuroshima Hex does have a video tutorial, which I thought was painful at first but it helped me learn the game & get me playing ASAP. So watch it and learn. Last of all, Neuroshima Hex does have 2 expansion armies you can buy to add, which I have not done so but probably will for my next trip across the Midwest.
Overall Neuroshima Hex is more of a logic puzzle: If that unit attacks now, then this one attacks, this one won’t be there anymore, etc. Neuroshima is worth the 4.99 on iTunes & Andriod market if you need something to play on the road or just killing time. It’s a refreshing take on a skirmish war game that I would even recommend getting the actual game to play with your gaming group. It would be a fantastic filler game.
Theme: Love the Post-Apocalyptic setting and artwork (albeit sometimes too small).
Strategy: Great logic test
Replayability: Random tiles and opponent tactics make every game different.
4 Different Armies with varied tactics with 2 optional expansion Armies.
Plus support for up to 4 players (AI or Human).
Rules: Simple and second nature, but only after you watch the tutorial video.
Pros: Simple and Quick
Interesting take on a Logic Puzzle
Game still getting great updates
Cons: After more and more updates, I find the game speed slows down (on a 3G iPhone).
8.5/10, I highly recommend buying.
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