Hex - AI Board Game 4+

Look so good. Nice graphics. I think its best game ever with AI. I love it

I got this because it seems to be the only iOS version of the Game of Hex that lets you play against the computer. However, you're restricted to a 6x6 board size. Furthermore, it only lets you play Blue, which gives the computer (Red) player a distinct advantage.

Even with that advantage, however, the computer is easily beaten even at level 6. I'm not the strongest player, and there were several moments when I could see that the computer had a path to victory -- a chain of two-bridges, meaning that at each point, no matter what move I made, the computer would have been able to counter-move and continue completing the chain. Were I playing a human, I would have resigned, but I kept playing, and won -- the AI wasn't strong enough to recognize this very simple path to victory.

Competent AI Hex players have been around for decades, and there is a wealth of published papers on computer Hex-playing algorithms, so it should not be hard to improve the game AI. For a paid game (even at $0.99) I expected better.

I like the way this is programmed and I like the way the game plays. However (1) there needs to be more difficulty levels and (2) there needs to be a way to have the player go first and the computer goes second and (3) you need to be able to play against another human, if there are two of you.