Title:    Qix
Genre:    Arcade
Year:     1990
Players:  One or two players (taking it in turns)
Rating:   *****
Summary:  An addictive game with a feindish enemy.

Qix is a unique game.  While it bears a striking resemblance to an
Etch-a-Sketch, it is in fact a fast, addictive game that has nothing
to do with creative drawing.

Your goal is to claim at least 75% of the play area.  You do this
by making a sort of spider web that automatically gets coloured in.
Your only enemies are the Sparx, which travel around the edge of
your web and kill you by touching you, and the Qixes, which move
freely within the part of the play area you haven't claimed yet and
kill you by touching a new thread you're still making.

The first few levels only have one Qix each, but on later levels
there are two Qixes, enabling you to complete the level by separating
them into different parts of the play area by creating a thread in
between them.

The scoring system works well: you get more points for building your
web slowly (which leaves the new thread exposed to the Qix for
longer), for separating two different Qixes, or for claiming more
than the minimum 75% of the screen (which can tempt you into making
very bold moves right next to the deadly Qix).

The Qix itself is one of the most fiendish enemies I've seen in a
game: mostly content to wander around aimlessly, it will occasionally
dart from one side of the screen to the other in order to catch you
off guard.  Trying to work out when and where it's safe to create
new threads, and when to run for cover, is what makes Qix so exciting.

The Game Boy version of Qix remains faithful to the original arcade
game yet scraps the odd colour scheme due to the console's monochrome
screen.  This is arguably one of the rare instances where black and
white graphics actually improve a game.

Qix is addictive, and it won't ruin your trigger finger.  If you
like the innovative arcade games of the eighties, this is up there
with the best of them.