ZNAX by Paradize
2006 has been a good year for Jack Tramiel's old grey box. The
D-Bug group have been busy fixing and cracking loads of games to
make them more compatible with the range of Atari computers (see
the extras section), lots of previously missing titles have been
found and there have been a few new releases too - most of which
have come from the Paradize team.
Released at the same time as Nuclear Waste Dump, Znax is a
simple and short puzzle game designed as a 'disk filler' and to
test the group's new GFA library. It looks very similar to
PopCap/Astraware's classic Bejeweled game, but instead of
swapping the tiles around the screen to match up lines of three
or more, in Znax the aim is to create the largest possible
squares (or rectangles) using nodes of the same colour.
To do this, the player has to identify four tiles of the same
colour in a square or rectangular shape, and simply click each
corner with the mouse. If correct, the box selected will be
filled with randomly selected tiles and your score will go up.
Obviously, the larger the area, the higher your score is
boosted.
Essentially Znax is a very simple little game, which is no
surprise as it weighs in at only 82Kb in size. The game-play
itself is time based - the player has an option of a two minute
or five minute game in which to achieve the highest score they
can. Nothing ground breaking, but it does prove to be fun to
play and the presentation is top notch (as with all Paradize
releases).
The in-game chip music is excellent quality and well-suited to
the game, and the graphics (especially the colour palette) are
colourful and refreshing. In conclusion, Znax is not a game
that will keep you entertained for hours, but it makes a welcome
and short-lived distraction from work.
Graphics 85
Sound 87
Game Concept 78
Gameplay 78
Lasting Appeal 72
Overall 80
J. Monkman for Alive, 2006-12-20
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