Qix is a wonderfully fun game of action and strategy, set up in a sort of puzzle format. It was both developed and published by the Taito Corporation and was originally an arcade game, but was ported to numerous other formats quite quickly. Moreover, Qix has been redone and cloned countless times, with more recent versions of the game featuring pictures in the backgrounds of the playing field to make it a bit more interesting. This is an early eighties release and was created mainly for single player play, though two players can alternate turns.
The playing field of Qix is a large rectangle and the goal of the game is to claim as much of it as possible by successfully fencing off chunks. The outside of the rectangle serves as a safe zone and within the confines of this zone, the “Qix” floats around randomly and methodically looking to kill you. You control a small diamond shaped cursor which can run along the outer rail, and can make new rails as you claim bits of the playing field. By moving in a straight line and right angles, you can claim more of the field. The cursor is only safe, however, if it along the outer rail…defined by the concentric run. Once you
veer away from the rail to begin claiming territory, you are vulnerable. Your cursor will leave a tail behind it, and if you make it the outside rail again, forming some sort of geometric pattern, this pattern will be shaded off and will become part of your claimed territory. This then forms a new safe area of rail. If the Qix, or one of the other baddies, should strike your cursor or your tail while you are not on the safe rail, you lose a life.
The game’s object is to claim a certain percentage of territory on each level, but of course, the Qix will get faster and the percentages will also grow. There is a time meter, that when it expires, will release extra enemies in the playing field. The difficulty usually increases about every two levels.
Qix is surprisingly simple and addictive. It offers a fast pace and a terrible exploitation of a human’s greed. After all, with the bad guy so far off, you can probably take a bigger chunk than you should. This plan may or may not pay off in this interesting little game.
