Hook Game Review: Getting Hooked by Removing Hooks

Puzzle games are one of my favorite games. It’s fun, addicting and challenging. I even play with it to relax my mind and body from a stressful and tiring day. Scouting the Google Play Store, I found this puzzle game that is unique from all the puzzle games that I have played. The game is called Hook by Rainbow Train.

The puzzle is about hooks in various shapes and length arranged on the screen. Your primary task will be to remove all the hooks in the level, but you will need to be careful because you have to remove hooks while not bumping or touching it to other hooks.

You will notice that there is some sort wiring system at play in the puzzle. Each hook is connected to a wire (represented by a thin line) that leads to a circular button. Touching that button will retract the hook, removing the hook and the wire and button that connects it.

The puzzle ends when you have cleared all hooks in the level. If you made a mistake and retracted the wrong hook, the puzzle will restart and you will need to start all over again. However, in advanced levels, the game will give you multiple chances before it restarts the puzzle.

To better understand how the game works, watch the game's trailer:



At earlier levels, puzzles will be a no brainer with less complicated hooks and simple wiring system. But as you progress, you solve more challenging puzzles with hooks arranged in bizarre ways, scrambled wires; rotatable wires that allow you to select which hook to retract and even retract hooks wirelessly.

The game is simple and straightforward. Upon launching the game, you will instantly see the title page that also serves as your first puzzle. There are no menus in the game. You can find arrows at the upper-right and upper-left corners of the screen to let you navigate between unlocked puzzles.

There are no achievements nor any social features that let you connect your game’s progress with your friends or to the online world. There are also no scores nor time limit so you can take your time and finish a puzzle at your own pace.

The game features a minimalistic design with the background as cream or off-white and the rest as different shades of gray to black. And while you’re removing hooks, the game plays a soothing and relaxing background music to help your mind relax.

I’m currently at level 42 and I have 8 more puzzles to go for me to complete the game. Scouting on Hook’s Google Play review page, players were that hooked that they finished the game with just about 4 hours of gameplay or even 1-2 hours for hardcore puzzle gamers.

Hook is unfortunately not free and will only cost you about a dollar to play the game. With that price, you get the whole game without any ads, without any add-on purchases, and play as long as you like with this minimalistic, fun and relaxing puzzle game.

The game is indeed fun, but solving puzzles get easier if you have acquired a technique or strategy. Perhaps adding some challenges in the game such as adding a time limit or limited button pressed would make the game more challenging and fun. Rainbow Train can also try adding a creation mode where player can create their own puzzles and share it to others to play.

Despite these limitations, Hook is a very simple and fun puzzle game to play with. If you’re into simple and fun puzzle games, I highly recommend Hook.