Gamers are used to waging desperate battles. They have taken the fields in many virtual wars, beaten many seemingly-unstoppable foes. Yet here is a struggle more dire than any before. A battle to save the very console they are currently playing on!
Qix is a game so foundational to the medium that in more recent years it has been copied wholesale into other games. Including titles like Rockstar's Canis Canem Edit, where players would have to play Qix is part of one of the game's classes. The original released in arcades in 1981 and was promptly ported to a variety of consoles, handhelds, and home computers. Even making its way unto early mobile phones.
The objective is simple. Players are presented with an empty, square field that they must paint by drawing lines. They control a "marker" that can traverse around the edges of the map and by pressing a button they can venture into the playing field proper. By drawing any shape and closing the lines, they claim more of the playing field and can now traverse over those new edges. Though a variety of projectiles and enemies seek to obstruct the players from doing so. If these touch the player or any lines while the shape isn't completed yet, the player loses a live and the shape disappears. Once a certain percentage of the field is then colored in, the players win and get to move on to the next stage.
Within the fiction of Qix, each level represents the memory of your console. The enemies are AI viruses looking to hijack your game system and it's only by securing each memory slot that you can stop them. It's a fun premise that certainly livens up what is otherwise a straightforward arcade-puzzle game.
Where many imitators and homages go wrong, however, is in designing the enemies. Because what makes the original Qix so interesting is the apparent intelligence of the titular enemy. A foe that freely traverses the field, looking to cut through your lines. Rather than a predictable movement pattern, The Qix is an erratic foe that you constantly have to adapt to. With each new level you reach, it grows a little faster. A little more devious. While it doesn't actually learn from the player as the manual claims it does, it certainly feels that way at times. Strategies you could get away with at first become impossible to execute in later levels. And while the Qix grows stronger, the amount of field you need to paint increases in later levels too!
This is what I love to see in retro games. The premise is so simple on its surface that anyone can immediately understand it. But look a little deeper and you find that there's ample depth to appreciate here. On top of a hearty challenge that is a joy to take on. The Port for the NES is a fine version of the game that should be easily accessible these days. Though the GameBoy version is also adequate if you prefer your retro arcade ports on the go.
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