This autumn the indie developers, Eclipse Games, present us with a long lost retro classic game “Qix”, however those of you who are familiar with this game will see it has now been redesigned and restyled bringing it up to date with the times. The aim of the game, now called LightFish, is to use a vibrant fish to fill in as much of the stage as you can without the enemy sea life coming into contact with your ‘drawer’ while you are in the middle of drawing a line. Drawing these lines allows you to close off a section of the playing field; in doing so you are killing and removing all enemies and items in that closed off zone. You need to fill at least 75% of the playing field to complete each stage. While trying to close off sections you will be surrounded by other under water creatures that are set on a standardised rotation around the zone; if by any chance you touch one or they hit the line you are trying to create you will lose a life.
During some of the level you will see a rather odd looking sea creature that will shoot bombs at you, this is kind of like the space invaders big boss ship that sometimes comes on the screen that you need to kill; of course everything on screen needs to be dodged. Around each stage will you will find “coral reefs” this is something I found to be annoying at first but over time I used the reefs to my advantage by caging in the enemy.
LightFish really won me over with the addictive gameplay and achievement system, where I spent more time trying to get the three stars for the best performance. Stars start from one up to three, three of coarse being the best and one being the worse, I personally felt this was a great addition to the game and in some ways give’s the player a reason to come back to a level they under performed on. You can say that the star system is more or less an achievement system and is something all games need to have; this will give the players a reason to pick up their game pad, load the game and play again.
The game is colourfully clear and precise in what you need to do, also very bright and attractive without any slowdowns. The graphics are rather impressive and may remind some indie lovers of the game FLOW, but this time you actually know what’s going on and make sense of the situation. The music is catchy and suits the overall gameplay and fits well within this type of genre. I found the control system a tad too sensitive to start with, however after about an hour in to the game it became a lot easier. You will really need to get to grips with the control system as the stages get a lot harder to complete and will require more skill and some precise movement. You will see what I mean when you are introduced to lava in the high stages, which if touched by the LightFish means instant death. Within one level I completed after a number of attempts you need to guide your LightFish very steadily around lava filled backwards “C”, this was only one of the hard stages you will encounter during the game.
I personally found LightFish a very enjoyable indie puzzle title, which if improved upon with DLC can be a good few pounds spend. Puzzle lovers should get this game and add it to their collection, you will not be disappointed. I would say that the first few levels are more of a training ground to get you used to the controls, as this game will test your skills within the harder stages. The game is a fast paced remake of an old classic completely re-designed for the next generation of gamers.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
