PixlBit

With hundreds of new indie games spilling onto the scene each month, it's easy to overlook some of the more deserving but obscure titles. Thus, this blog.

Line Knight Fortix—iPad/iPhone—Bulkypix

One of the unfortunate consequences of the growing indie movement is the large magnitude of copycat games surging through the various marketplaces. The number of Mario clones alone probably number in the thousands, but there are plenty of Breakout, Pac-Man, and tower defense clones to go around as well. Fortunately, not all of these games are bad, and a few even provide some novel twists that improve on the original source material.

As is the case with Line Knight Fortix, an entertaining reflex-puzzler inspired by the Taito classic Qix. In that original golden oldie, the goal was to fence or “rope off” a certain percentage of the overall playfield by drawing rectangles of various sizes. As the player proceeded, a deadly “squiggle” zipped about the empty spaces, attempting in somewhat random fashion to collide with the currently drawn line. Thus, the player had to constantly decide whether drawing a large shape, which was worth more points, was worth the risk of getting snagged by the squiggle.

Line Knight Fortix maintains the gameplay but switches the context—set in a medieval world, players are now reclaiming their kingdom’s stolen land amidst flying dragons and deadly fortresses armed with cannons. Each drawn line is the new “border” for the kingdom, so to speak, and successfully enclosing an enemy with the kingdom’s boundaries spells its doom. Likewise, these borders allow the player to repurpose turrets that will then fire on the player’s behalf.

And it’s fun, offering far more obstacles and gameplay wrinkles than its inspiration ever attempted. The graphics, although simple 2-D art, suit the straightforward gameplay well enough, and the music sufficiently compliments the various locales. The controls, however, falter on stages requiring a lot of precise drawing, leading to unnecessary mistakes and thus some unfortunate frustration. Playing on the iPad’s larger screen is definitely recommended.

At $0.99, Line Knight Fortix is a fine contemporary filter with which to remember the past. And thanks to that modern marvel known as the touch screen, this is perhaps the way Qix was always meant to be played. Now, if only Taito would get busy with its own update...

 

Thanks to iTunes for the image.