Adventurs of Fortix, the illegitimate son of Asterix
OK this has nothing to do with Asterix. Nor tower defense, which was my impression of this game for some reason.This is Qix. They added dragons, cannons and power-ups, but it is still good old Qix.
On the original Qix and its countless clones&remakes the idea is always the same. Player must claim the screen by drawing boxes/fencing off sections of the screen while dodging random moving object in middle of the screen. Idea in Fortix is absolutely same. Only difference is that player must cover(capture) enemy fortress instead of certain percent coverage. In the end the towers so scattered that one ends fencing of the majority of the screen anyway. The random objects hindering player is cannonballs being shot from the fortress/towers and randomly flying dragons. The enemy turrets can be taken down by conquering one-shot cannon or cannons rather. There is always one such cannon for each enemy turret. However before these are used a separate trigger object must be captured as well. These usually scattered in other sections of the screen. Each player cannon taking down one enemy turret automatically when armed.. Making player to think slightly about strategy a bit more than one would on normal Qix. Later levels have walls which player can't draw over, meaning these must be circled. The games power-ups come in form of speed and various stop add-ons. These last limited time and give of course an further edge. Only problem with these and with the game is that the player soldier (the wee character player is controlling) happens to be move very slowly. Benefit from the power-up is so brief that most often it is not worth the effort.
On presentation front game does very simply job. With almost identical scenarios where everything is from top-down perspective. Except for the moving dragons and cannonballs everything is simple 2D graphics. Which shouldn't be problem hadn't all the levels looked almost same. Only difference is bigger castles with more towers on later levels. And occasional random walls and what not. The few songs manage to relay medieval theme well enough. Not just lot of variation there either.
Fortix has an story and a boss fight of some sort, but these are really nothing to write about. It is interesting to see another take on Qix, but unfortunately the additions aren't enough to make this compelling game. This is no doubt for more casual audience. The campaign can be beaten in few hours. There is impossible mode that adds tighter time limit and faster enemies, which of course sounds fun. Game does have decent Steam achievements if nothing else. Another Steam (first being Arcadia) for me recently I would recommend a Flash game of some sort before this. This is really not worth paying money for I am afraid. Unless medieval themed Qix is your dream come true that is.
