I just bought this after reading through this thread. I've been a fan of Canabalt for years, but, for whatever reason, I'd yet to try Super Hexagon. From everything I'd seen and heard it was seriously intimidating. It sounds weak, I know, but my love for Canabalt sprang from boredom at work, and it was never something I felt thoroughly invested in. It was there; I repeated it to kill time; my distances got longer. That was it. Super Hexagon was never presented to me that way, so I avoided it.
Even after just some short time with this game (and with only a 33:39 best time to show for my meager abilities), I know that Super Hexagon is wonderful. It's not something you can properly describe and the very fact that it can't be properly described probably makes it that much harder to communicate why anyone should try, never mind work at, this game. The controls at first don't seem to want to work the way you want them to. And the various differentiations that play across the screen - colors, directions, shapes, speeds, etc - all seem to be a little overwhelming. The game doesn't seem particularly inviting, unless you find the music especially catchy.
But you keep trying. And you keep trying. And trying. And... you, reader, get the point. The hook is in this long succession of blips of time, marking out innumerable defeats (if you choose to see it that way (even though the game does its best to make such moments pass so quickly, they never really seem to be a defeat so much a hiccough or a blink, some miniscule amount of punctuation between where you were and where you are)), these potentially endless repetitions with just enough difference from time to time to make all the difference to your sense of accomplishment; but, while the hook is there, the sublime quality of the game is not. It's somewhere a bit deeper. You don't so much get better at this game, really; it's not the sort of game where you learn the ins and outs, where tips and hints will assist you, and where it's just a matter of you getting it right. It isn't something conscious. You learn to see the game, you learn to touch the game, and in that you begin to really play the game.
Sure, that might all come off a bit pompous, but - wow! - I just really liked what I played.
And the playing on higher levels then going back to easy hack works like a charm, lol. That being said. I'm pretty sure I didn't start on the lowest level the first time (when I refunded it). Which added to my initial shock.
