Game Reviews

Line Knight Fortix

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iOS
| Line Knight Fortix
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Line Knight Fortix
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iOS
| Line Knight Fortix

Taito's arcade line-drawing hit Qix has been reborn in different skins since its debut in 1981. It's not hard to understand why.

Fencing off hostile territory and claiming it for our own feeds the monkey-like part of our brain that still longs to steal armfuls of fruit from our rivals and shriek, "MINE."

It's no wonder, then, that Line Knight Fortix is such an appealing game to play, even though it suffers from some frustrating control issues and a tendency to throw you against near-impossible odds.

Knight without a home

Line Knight Fortix puts you in charge of Sir Fortix, an exiled knight. Sir Fortix's land has been claimed by the evil wizard Xitrof (spell it backwards), who let a whole whack of dragons and ogres move in.

Sir Fortix, however, is not content to watch his neighbourhood crumble. He aims to reclaim his kingdom piece by piece - with the help of your fabulous finger, of course.

Each level of Line Knight Fortix takes place on a darkened battlefield scattered with hostile objects and wildlife. Sir Fortix can run on the outskirts of the level - the base line - in relative safety.

When you draw a line from the base line that matches up to another section of the base line, Sir Fortix will reclaim that portion of the territory for his own.

The level ends when Sir Fortix has re-captured all the objects indicated - e.g. turrets, boats, and heroes' badges.

Hostile neighbours

All the goons lurking around Sir Fortix's country aren't about to let him have an easy time of his task, however. Each beastie has a special talent for disrupting his lines, and if they manage to mess up Fortix's work before he can successfully connect to the base line, he loses a life.

A few examples include turrets, which fire on Sir Fortix; green dragons that fly in lazy, circular patterns; black dragons that spit fire; and bone dragons that hunt the knight whenever he leaves the safety of his base line.

Worst of all are the bats that travel along the base line and decimate Sir Fortix if they nuzzle up against him.

Most of the enemies in Line Knight Fortix can be eliminated if you ensnare them while re-capturing land (turrets in particular are eliminated when you re-capture your own turrets on the map). Regardless, sometimes levels are so enemy-filled that it becomes difficult to keep your business in order.

The bats are especially troublesome, since they're released when you re-capture a bit of land that contains their cave. Ideally, you're supposed to give these caves a wide berth - but sometimes obstacles like walls and gates make it nearly impossible not to wake the little buggers up.

Next thing you know, your lives have dwindled to zero and you're back to square one.

Hard day's knight

Controlling Sir Fortix can be a chore, too. Flicking in a particular direction will cause him to march that way, though he can be easy to miss because he makes such a small target. Occasionally he turns back on himself and sits in the open, vulnerable, even though you swear you ordered him to return to the base line.

Well, Sir Fortix isn't a perfect hero, but who amongst us truly is? What counts is that he tries hard, and you should enjoy accompanying him on his quest for reclamation. Hopefully he'll listen to you instead of marching into the jaws of a dragon.

Line Knight Fortix

Line Knight Fortix is a flawed but fun re-imagining of the arcade classic Qix
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