# Helix — user reviews > 51 indexed App Store user reviews of Helix by Michael Brough, rated 4.70/5 from 35 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/helix/id562550427/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/helix/id562550427.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 32 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 2 · 1★ 1 ## Newest reviews (15 of 51) ### 5/5 — Pretty Fantastic *2015-06-14, version 1.01* It's great! Challenging and fun - I play it literally none stop help!!! ### 5/5 — Great controls *2015-06-11* This game is extremely satisfying to play. The controls feel incredibly natural and I get a lot of pleasure out of getting better at the game. ### 5/5 — Great ramp up and mechanic *2015-06-08* Super fun to experience without any prior guidance. Just jump in, explode, and figure it out. Good stuff. ### 5/5 — Quirky cool! *2015-02-27* Very unique and clever control scheme! A great original game that's a steep challenge but rewarding to keep playing. ### 5/5 — Favorite go to game *2015-01-18, version 1.01* I can't recall how much I paid but whatever it was it wasn't enough for this brilliant gem. Game is remarkable and I have been going back to beat my high score constantly. Just an FYI, the developers other games are brilliant too. ### 5/5 — Thanks, Brough. *2014-12-26* Another Brough winner. My favorite so far, honestly. Arcade heaven. Edit: Had to drop in again just to say that this is my GOTY. This continues to get almost daily play, and I'm always getting questions about the game from others. I'm always excited to share, and I hope it's resulted in a few new purchases. Crazy, crazy, crazy about this quirky, intense, challenging game. ### 5/5 — Brilliant *2014-11-23, version 1* Stylish & menacing old school graphics. Great surreal game. Get it! ### 5/5 — Fun and addicting *2014-11-22* Helix is an entertaining game with fluid and responsive controls. The graphics are fun in an Apple IIc or maybe even Commodore 64 sort of way. Best of all, the game possesses that rare quality that encourages me to play just one more time, over, and over, and over... Five out of five stars. ### 5/5 — Close to perfection *2014-11-09, version 1* The controls are spot-on and the gameplay fun. You can't get much better than this. ### 5/5 — Amazing *2014-11-08* It's in the same league as super hexagon, perhaps even better. Great music, brutal but fair difficulty, gameplay that is so perfect on a touch screen. ### 5/5 — GENIUS! *2014-11-06, version 1* Sheer genius on all levels. Incredibly fun to play. Art style and soundtrack are perfect. An instant classic (and I do not use that phrase lightly). ### 5/5 — Love love love this game *2014-10-31, version 1* Great controls. And the graphics are so unique. Will stay enjoyable for a lifetime. ### 5/5 — Such a satisfying game! *2014-10-28* This game is perfectly suited for a touch phone. The controls feel great, rounds don't take to long, and it's a unique game built on a inherently interesting interaction on the device. This game is like a breath of fresh air in the stale sea of mediocre iPhone games. ### 5/5 — Yus *2014-10-24, version 1* Really interesting gameplay :3 ### 5/5 — Excellent twitch game *2014-10-23* Never played Mr. Brough's other games but after this one I'm definitely interested in doing so. Three different game modes offering different twists to the same base mechanics. Excellent music and delightfully weird visuals. The game is "endless with an ending" meaning if you survive long enough and rack up enough points you will eventually see a conclusion to the games premise, which I think has something to do with killing computer viruses by encircling them. Overall great gameplay hook, the encircling bit, lots of different enemy types to discover and great music make this a solid twitch based high score game. Highly recommended if those are your jam. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Crummy *2016-09-15* After the hype, I was suprised how crummy this game is. Like a low-end 1985 PC DOS CGA game written by a student. Crude grapics, poor controls, boring. I deleted it after a week. ### 1/5 — Worthless! *2014-10-21, version 1* Where are the good reviews coming from? This game is unplayable. It's a joke! ### 1/5 — Seriously? *2014-10-19, version 1* How is this getting good reviews?? ### 1/5 — Just boring. *2014-10-16, version 1* Not a fan of the art style and didn't like the music. I understand the game is quite simple but a 5 second tutorial on how to play or better yet a 5 word explanation before the game starts, would clear up how to play. Also, I did not find the game engaging at all, pretty much biggest waste of $3.80 I have ever spent. ### 2/5 — Doesn’t fit on iPad screen properly *2022-04-11, version 1.02* Game might be good, but about 15% of the game is skewed off the left of the iPad and can’t be seen properly. Makes playing a frantic game nigh on impossible ### 2/5 — It's OK but... *2016-04-21* I feel like I was oversold. I have been eyeing this game for several years decided to try it out. To me, there's just not enough to latch onto. I draw circles around the bad guys? That's the whole game? No upgrades, the different modes are indistinguishable except by difficulty. The art style is cool, but not enough for me to latch onto. I'd direct you to Spirit for a similar but IMO better game. FYI I love the developer's 868-HACK so I feel like I'm being fair! ### 2/5 — Different, but repetitive *2015-02-17, version 1.01* Michael Brough is one of my favourite iOS developers and I own everything he has released, but this particular title is not as fleshed out or as inspiring as his others. The vague descriptions of his games are usually permissible because they are largely rooted in intrigue and given the amount of replayability and content they have, it usually adds to the overall package by not revealing too much. In this case, the description of "encircle your enemies" is pretty much the crux of the entire game - you must move in a complete circle (sometimes more than one) around each enemy to defeat them, rinse and repeat. While it does lend itself to on-the-go mobile gaming with its short burst gameplay and arcade style high score system, and while it features some very nice screen effects, I personally feel there is not enough variety or content to truly justify the price. Still, I imagine Michael does not want to be pigeon-holed as a roguelike developer, and this game is a change of pace and personality for him. Just not what I personally was hoping for. If you want a strange, intriguing game from Michael Brough with much more replayability, check out Zaga-33 or 868-HACK instead - two of my all-time favourite games from the App Store. ### 2/5 — Way OVERPRICED *2014-10-19* This is a simple twitch game i.e. Flappy bird, the mechanic is easy enough to perform just circle objects to remove them from the screen. It would probably become very repetitive if you could play it for more than a few seconds, however I find it very hard even in the normal because the screen fills up to fast and because you have to complete a full circle around an object to remove it you keep running into objects before it can be completed. I don't understand the positive reviews they are truly misleading. Don't waste your money it's worth no more than .99 cents and then only to people who enjoy playing unplayable games,,, ### 3/5 — Frustrating on a phone *2015-01-09, version 1* Great music and art, fluid controls, but ultimately a bullet hell experience that is more frustration than fun on the smaller screen of a phone. ### 3/5 — Okay... *2014-10-17, version 1* I purchased this game as it was reminiscent of a fantastic DOS game I remembered. I have to say I'm disappointed though, as the app design and UI is quite ugly, and the controls are floaty and inaccurate. With some updates to these features, it could be a worth a higher rating. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Helix - one of the best *2026-06-13* I’m amazed that I can still play this awesome game after all these years on my phone. It’s for sure one of the App Store classics by one of my favorite game designers. If you’re into Arcade action & frenetic pixel gameplay, this is for you. The art style combined with the catchy soundtrack that will stick to your head is everything! I hope that I can play this game forever! Thank you Michael & Andrew! P.S. not to forget 868-Hack! 2 of my absolute favorite games ever made! ;) (+ Zaga-33) ### 5/5 — Fantastic *2025-07-05* action game from a fantastic game designer. ### 5/5 — One of the greatest games ever created. *2019-01-24, version 1.02* One of the greatest games ever created. If a pop-culture version was released, perhaps to another brand, it would take off like a firecracker. ### 5/5 — Masterful *2018-04-20* anti-shmup arcade game from the mad genius behind 868-HACK. ### 5/5 — GAMERS LETS RALLY AROUND MIKE! *2017-03-12* Want great games then I say lets do it. This man is a once in a lifetime developer. Do you so called gamers understand this mans genius, sometimes I wonder. Support is the name of the game here people. You call yourself a gamer, well Mikes got the games. ### 5/5 — Diamond in the bRough *2016-06-09* iOS games don't get better than Brough, one of the true geniuses of the indie game movement. Get this, and get 868-HACK and Imbroglio, his two brilliant roguelikes- his take on the genre is so special it deserves to be considered its own subgenre... Broughlikes! And don't stop playing until you get to the point you can't stop playing. Take it from me, Helix World Champion for two years running, and top 10 player of all Brough's iOS releases. ### 5/5 — iOS 9.3 iPhone 6S *2016-03-25* So, I wasn't having any issues with the game on iOS 9.2.1, but once I updated to 9.3, the game suddenly had black bars on the sides. Like a game that hadn't been updated for widescreen. Which is strange, because I know it's widescreen supported... I have no clue what settings were changed with the iOS 9.3 update, but they messed this game's display up. I doubt it'll ever get fixed (and I don't expect it to, it is Apple's fault anyway and look at how long GameCenter has been broken). Just thought I should let people know that the game might not be as easy to play if you update your OS. ### 5/5 — Simply Great *2015-12-19* Great little Arcade Game. Looks like Hotline Miami, Plays like Geometry Wars and sounds like Old School Electro. ### 5/5 — I love it *2015-12-10* Very good game! foncez... ### 5/5 — Watch the clock! *2015-09-16* This is my favorite iOS game. I can't stop playing the darn thing. I just finally beat one of the developer's high scores and I feel like the kid in The Wizard. This thing's brilliant in all facets. Very cool hypnagogic art style, killer computer virus music, super secrets. People on public transit stop and ask me what this game is. Gosh darn! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-26.*