EDIT: After giving it another go, I changed my mind. It is much better than I gave it credit for. (You might see only a couple hours of playtime total from me, but do note average game takes like 2-3 minutes). The gameplay is incredibly addictive, but the lack of enemies that can ride on player's lines (like sparks in Qix) does mean that trying to split every playfield in two with thin small stripes, then remaining part also in two, repeat; - is very much the dominant strategy. Then again, that was also the case in Volfied, and in Bad Sector developer at least added a time limit to encourage more aggressive play. The only thing I haven't changed my opinion is the instant respawn, I still keep losing lives this way.
Also the music is an absolute banger.
It feels like the janky controls were slightly intended and they are learnable. The real issue are glitches - the game is INCREDIBLY janky with crapton of glitches, that happen very often. They're not game breaking and are usually either minor or just annoying, but it's very much a It Just Works style experience. If you *can* bear them it really is a fun an addictive game easily worth the money.
Okay, here's what I said originally couple years ago:
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Honestly this kind of... sucks a bit in the normal mode. The Qix aspect is fine, but your controls are gimped. Your character constantly moves (unlike Qix and other similar games), and only stops at outer corners of territories. It doesn't stop at other intersections, which basically makes waiting for the right moment impossible... And waiting for the right moment is the entire point of Qix-likes. Instead, the game is replaced by hammering arrow keys, praying that you go through the right intersection instead of going in circles around the whole playfield.
As a result, the gameplay is frustrating and I never felt like I was in control of the dot.
Now, this is all subjective - you could say that this is the difficulty - but the following isn't. After you die, you IMMEDIATELY respawn with no delay or mercy invincibility. As a result, because deaths are so sudden, it's very likely you will not notice, and you will press the key you meant to press before dying... Which often will result in you shooting off into the empty field, easy prey for the enemies. Before you realize what just happened, you're probably already dead. And this can happen several times in a row, so a single mistake can compund into losing all lives in 5 seconds. Not pleasant.
And I would definitely recommend against this game... if it was more expensive. Let's face it, this game is cheap as chips... And there are good parts. The audio/visual layers are pretty good (it's simple but pleasant as a piece of graphic design, and it fits with the theme), and aside from the slights gameplay is solid. I especially appreciate the Survival mode, which is an interesting and innovative take on Qix formula, and doesn't have either of the aforementioned problems (territory you claim immediately vanishes and you always move around the outer edge, and you have no lives).
[b]If you ask me, the Survival mode alone is worth the asking price.[/b]
So my recommendation - buy it for Survival mode, and if you're interested, give the campaign a go and see if you like it. If you get tired of it - just quit and keep playing Survival. But if you do enjoy it, hey, more bang for your buck (single buck, as in dollar, because again, game is cheap as heck).
However, I would most of all hold out for a sequel where you have more control over your character, and you have delay between deaths - I would buy something like that for much more than 1$, probably 5-10$ - again, if the gameplay was more polished.
EDIT: It appears that you do have lives in Survival mode. I didn't notice because at some point, you fail immediately. I think there is a time limit (which would make Survival more of a Time Attack) but it isn't shown on screen, which I guess adds another minor gripe. But if you keep that in mind, Survival is still fun.
