Bix Lite
by Eric March on November 5, 2008 at 12:19 pm
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(6 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)
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App Name: Bix Lite
Developer: Padadaz
Category: Arcade Games
Remember the age-old arcade game Qix? Then you know what Bix is all about. If not, the concept is simple: You must section off areas of the playfield to trap the Qix (or in this case, bouncing balls presumably known collectively as “bix”) into the smallest area you can muster to advance to the next level. You need 75% coverage to advance, but the more you can get above that the better your score will be.
There are a couple of fundamental differences here however. First of all, there are different types of balls bouncing around — more as the levels increase — and each have their own properties: Light blue are normal balls and can be removed from the board by trapping them in a box; darker blue will respawn when trapped; pink will slow all of the other balls down, and green will give you an extra life. Also, whereas Qix had two drawing speeds (slow and fast) that gave different point values (slower drawing was more dangerous but worth more), Bix has only the one.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is movement. In Qix and its derivatives you controlled your movement with the joystick, and pressed a button to activate draw mode. In Bix on the other hand, you are constantly on the move, and you use swipe gestures only to draw. (You can change direction when you’re not drawing, but you can’t stay in one place) I found this to be most unorthodox, and while perhaps a bit challenging, I really didn’t care much for it. I would much rather have been able to control movement myself and had a soft-button on-screen to activate draw mode.
Lacking the ability to control your own movement makes the game feel like it’s missing an important gameplay mechanic — because it is — so I was a bit disappointed here. Part of the fun of Qix was building tall, thin structures without actually closing the structure off, trapping the Qix in smaller and smaller spaces until you finally trapped him in a tiny, inescapable corner. Then you’d slam his prison shut with a short line and a 98% fill rate. Bix doesn’t really allow that because you can’t keep still long enough nor move slow enough to make that reasonably possible.
Graphically I have nothing to complain about. It isn’t spectacular, but it’s nice, clean, and very well done for what there is. There’s no sound, however, which further removes a bit of that nostalgic arcade feel. I realize this isn’t Qix, and that it needs to make itself artistically different enough to avoid being mistaken for it (hello, Mr. Taito, I see you’ve brought Mr. Cease-and-Desist…) but I can’t help but feel a fundamental play mechanic shouldn’t have been one of the changes. Yes, I like my clones as cloney as I can get them, okay?
It’s a bit half-baked, but what there is is well done. If Padadaz can fill in the blanks and maybe implement manual control I’d like it a lot. Right now though I can only muster a “Well done, but…”
This free version gives you only 6 levels to play with, and it’s a buck if you want the rest.
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Posted in Games: Arcade
