Klax
Teque Software of the U.K. ported Atari Games' Klax coinop of 1990 to Amiga in 1990. Klax is an addictive tile-based puzzle game that evokes Tetris and tic-tac-toe.
In Klax tiles of various colors flip towards the screen in five rows by way of conveyor. Players must catch the approaching tiles on a horizontally-sliding paddle and assign the tiles to one of five columns located at the end of the conveyor. The object of Klax is to align three or more like-colored tiles in vertical, horizontal or diagonal stacks, thereby scoring a Klax.
Tiles that have been Klaxed generate points and disappear, freeing up space in the columns. Adding a layer of strategy, the paddle can hold stacks of up to five tiles. The rate at which tiles approach increases as Klax progresses. Players can manually increase the rate at which tiles approach, but there is no way to slow down oncoming tiles. Flashing tiles can assume any color.
Each wave of Klax has a requirement that must be met in order to progress to the next wave. One requirement might be to survive 40 tiles (by getting Klaxes), another to get 15 Klaxes of any kind, and yet another to get 13 diagonal Klaxes. On one wave players might be able to warp through waves by creating an "X-shaped" super-Klax. And so on.
Depending on waveset, players are permitted to drop (fail to catch) 3-5 tiles according to the Drop Meter. It is Game Over when drops are exhausted.
Points are awarded based on the difficulty of the Klax. For example, 50 points for a vertical stack of three tiles, 5,000 for a diagonal stack of three tiles and 10,000 for a horizontal stack of five tiles. In addition, end-wave points are awarded based on the number of free slots left in the columns.
Amiga Klax graphics are clear and colorful, and its audio employs sampled speech and good sound effects. However, since "16-bit" Klax was developed with the ST and PC in mind as well, Amiga Klax audiovisuals do not push the Amiga's custom chipset hard.
That said, Klax gameplay is king-tier -- and that is the most important thing.
Published by Domark, Amiga Klax was programmed by Peter Harrap, composed by Matt Furniss and drawn by Mark Harrap and Mark Potente. Klax was conceived and designed by Dave Akers and Mark Stephen Pierce.
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