Lightfish

Developer: Eclipse Games
Steam Release: Oct 2011
Hours Played: 4.0
Similar To: Cubixx HD / Fortix / Fortix 2
Rating: 2/5 Parsnips




GAMEPLAY
Lightfish takes its basic principles from the ancient arcade game known as Qix and gives you bite-sized levels to complete in two different modes. It's not much to look at but what it does, it does well. The game is set in an underwater top-down environment and gives you the task of drawing straight lines with your fish. When you have drawn an enclosed shape, the smaller area is shaded in and everything within it gets wiped out including various enemies that swim about in fairly predictable patterns. If they make contact with your exposed line before you have finished then you lose one of your three lives. Areas that block your path, hot lava that instantly kills you and cold areas that slow you down gradually get introduced. 
 

BALANCE & PACE
Once you have shaded 75% of the entire area, you end the level. Plenty of stats flash up after you have finished the level but it's just the score and the number of stars achieved that get saved and recorded. You can choose to plow on through the game, redo an older level or just switch mode for a change of pace. Overall, Lightfish is an extremely well put together casual game. Mostly, you'll often find yourself drawing wafer-thin rectangles to build a kind of bridge - and then obliterate large areas at a time giving plenty of satisfaction. The variety of enemies keeps the game dynamic and with each level generally lasting around one to three minutes it's a solid, user-friendly game.

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
The game won't bowl you over graphically as everything is kept very basic and very casual. Most enemies are rendered in simple geometric shapes and the playing area and obstacles likewise are straightforward quadrilateral shapes. Everything glows nicely with the underwater feel brought to life by the use of air bubbles bubbling away. Enemies, on the other hand, make no sound and I feel the makers could have been a little more imaginative by giving them distinctive sounds of their own but this wasn't to be. The music, while adding to the atmosphere somewhat in a supermarket-muzak sort of way, is fairly bland.  
 


PROGRESS SYSTEM
There are two modes to play: Adventure and Time Trial. They are essentially the same except the latter challenges you to complete levels within a given time. There are five worlds with nine levels in each and while each introduces a slightly more difficult mechanic, the design and gameplay is not drastically different. After each level you are given a score along with 1-3 golden stars depending on your efficiency and skill. You may replay a level at any time and zipping through the menus is a breeze. High-scores and star ratings are clearly displayed for each level and there is the added bonus of of your score getting converted to a rank on the leaderboards as well. 

CONCLUSION

Lightfish may not be a particularly well-known title but the developers have managed to upgrade the Qix formula to an effective degree. Graphics are of the luminous, neon-lit variety and this blends well with the gentle, underwater theme. The sound effects are soft and understated which makes the tone of the game very gentle overall. You're never really made to feel stressed or hyper when tricky situations arise. Musically, as mentioned, the soundtrack is quite bland; bordering on supermarket muzak - but this doesn't really make the game any less interesting to play.