Drawing Out the Lines
This game is also another childhood gem of mine. I never did play the actual arcade game except for the sequel "Super Qix" (which is a story for another time), I played the NES port of the game. With both the sequel and the port, I actually had loads of fun with it because it was one of those games you don't see everyday which is part of the reason I love video games to hunt for the unique. But also, it pertains to one of my joys and interests in life when I was a kid which was drawing and art.
It's pretty much one big digital etch a sketch pad which is cool and makes sense since those toys were really popular in the 80's to now. I had one of those and had a lot of fun with them, though sadly I could never quite sketch very well. But that's beside the point, playing a video game that was like that toy and pertains to my interest in drawing and art, really blew my mind.
There is not much to it as you control a cursor and your objective is to draw out circuits to form a square or rectangles to color and claim territory. The more you draw and overtake territory, the more you rack up the points. However, you must be careful because if you don't complete drawing your circuit your circuit self-destructs. There are stray sparks that will ride the circuits you draw but most importantly you must avoid getting hit by the evil wavering parallel lines called the Qix.
What makes this game fun is how it's a game of both strategy and risk. Your cursor has two different speeds, with one which draws out blue line circuits and makes blue is fast. The other that colors red line circuits and make red is slow. The thing is with the blue even though you can draw out territories faster you rack up points slower. With the red despite claiming property slower you rack up higher points.
When you draw out you really have to do careful calculations in your head, like should I draw big at a specific point in time, should I draw with the slow red at the risk of getting hit, should I go for the conservative approach by drawing out small shapes then go big. It's sort of your have or have not fact, it's all up to you. Let alone really tense as you always while working on your shape, trying not the get hit which most of the time can be really heart breaking whenever you come so close which does happen a lot. The game is just always fun just to see if I can do better, meet a bigger quota or even see if you can blow the other guys score away.
Overall a solid entry, personally I like the sequels more a little more going for them in my book but this classic is still worth playing to see like any well done drawing where it all began.
Rating: 3 stars
It's pretty much one big digital etch a sketch pad which is cool and makes sense since those toys were really popular in the 80's to now. I had one of those and had a lot of fun with them, though sadly I could never quite sketch very well. But that's beside the point, playing a video game that was like that toy and pertains to my interest in drawing and art, really blew my mind.
There is not much to it as you control a cursor and your objective is to draw out circuits to form a square or rectangles to color and claim territory. The more you draw and overtake territory, the more you rack up the points. However, you must be careful because if you don't complete drawing your circuit your circuit self-destructs. There are stray sparks that will ride the circuits you draw but most importantly you must avoid getting hit by the evil wavering parallel lines called the Qix.
What makes this game fun is how it's a game of both strategy and risk. Your cursor has two different speeds, with one which draws out blue line circuits and makes blue is fast. The other that colors red line circuits and make red is slow. The thing is with the blue even though you can draw out territories faster you rack up points slower. With the red despite claiming property slower you rack up higher points.
When you draw out you really have to do careful calculations in your head, like should I draw big at a specific point in time, should I draw with the slow red at the risk of getting hit, should I go for the conservative approach by drawing out small shapes then go big. It's sort of your have or have not fact, it's all up to you. Let alone really tense as you always while working on your shape, trying not the get hit which most of the time can be really heart breaking whenever you come so close which does happen a lot. The game is just always fun just to see if I can do better, meet a bigger quota or even see if you can blow the other guys score away.
Overall a solid entry, personally I like the sequels more a little more going for them in my book but this classic is still worth playing to see like any well done drawing where it all began.
Rating: 3 stars
- hellraiser7
- Nov 21, 2019