Hands-on with Super Hexagon - the first iOS game from VVVVVV developer

Indie developer Terry Cavanagh is no stranger to brutal games. Playing his relentless gravity-switch platformer VVVVVV is like signing up to a daily kick in the plums, only with more pain and swearing.

It's no surprise, then, that Cavanagh's latest title is also a palm-sweating test of mettle, with a difficulty curve that can best be described as 'vertical'. The most gentle difficulty is labelled as "Hard", for example, and it only escalates from there.

In Super Hexagon, you control a tiny triangular spaceship which orbits a hexagon-shaped planet. Giant barriers endlessly close in on the planet's six sides, rushing towards the surface and crushing any hapless spaceships in that sector.

So, you've got to move left and right (by tapping either side of the screen) to skirt around the hexagon's circumference and dodge those incoming juggernauts.

Nothing is ever that easy, though, and the enemies of Super Hexagon rarely play fair. An incoming barrier might unexpectedly leap into another segment; the playfield might momentarily morph into a square or pentagon; and you could be trapped in a spiralling vortex of shapes.

It might seem unpredictable and crazy, but there is a method to its brutal madness. It offers scripted segments among its random shape shifting, so you do get an opportunity to at least learn and anticipate certain types of danger. There's also a dependable sequence of levels, as you move from line to triangle to square and onwards.

The visuals quickly become trippy and psychedelic. The playfield zooms in and out, and the screen spins in zigzag directions, resulting in a vertigo-inducing blast of shape and colour that'll either make you say 'wow' or make you lose your lunch.

It all looks a bit like a music visualisation on Windows, or one of those demoscene splash screens that preceded pirated Amiga games. You know the ones. Add the zesty chiptune soundtrack by Niamh "Chipzel" Houston, and you're there.

Super Hexagon is hard because it requires you to both learn patterns and have the reflexes to tackle unpredictable challenges. But, there are some other elements that add to the game's considerable challenge.

The screen is split into six oddly coloured segments, like a starburst that spills out from the hexagon's six sides. You can use these to line up your ship, but because you don't magnetically snap to a section, it's sometimes easy to overshoot and get crushed right on the edge.

It's a frustrating quibble that will inevitably vex you slightly during your first few goes, but you will get used to it.

Super Hexagon is one of those games that will grip you. It will mock you for not even being able to beat the most easy mode, and will consume you until you've made some definable progress. It's a simple, but delicious treat.

You can play the free non-'Super' Flash prequel (of sorts) over at Cavanagh's website. This Super iOS port will be submitted to Apple soon, and should be available to download on iPhone and iPad in the next couple of weeks.