Puzzle games either last for forever or for 15 minutes. If the gimmick takes hold, it never lets go and people are still clearing lines 20 years later (Tetris) or being adapted into oddly captivating RPG hybrids a la Puzzle Quest (Bejeweled). Honeycomb, like its dual-colored DS cousin Polarium, just doesn’t grip the player, and it’s not apparent why. The key elements are there: simple gameplay that scales as the game progresses, puzzle mode, and timed challenge mode.
Honeycomb Beat is trying to capitalize on the success of Q Entertainment’s Lumines – this much is obvious from the title. Beat implies that there is a rhythm component to the game, but it’s just what Hudson has decided to call the tap of a hexagon – or honeycomb.
In puzzle mode, the player is supplied with a random assortment of honeycombs – all of which are either orange or white. The goal is to turn all the honeycombs white in the prescribed number of moves. There’s no time limit, but there is a par value for each puzzle. Shoot 10 over par and you get to try again. Every time a puzzle is cleared the adjacent puzzles (arranged in a honeycomb pattern) are available to the player. To break up the tedium A
