STAX

Stax is similar to the old Atari Lynx game Klax. Incoming blocks must be put away into corresponding slots of similar blocks that match their color - be it vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. In fact, some levels require you to place the blocks in certain fashion in order to progress to the next round, requiring forethought and planning.. and is difficult as later levels come at you pretty fast. Graphics are colorful with a mixture of a 3D background and a static playing surface. While nothing to get too excited about they are pleasing to the eye and serve their purpose wonderfully. Sound and music are very nice, and suitable to the game and play style. Best used with a xbox or similar controller but the keyboard can be used. Very much recommended!

[b]stax[/b] is a space-themed clone of the classic [b]klax[/b], a catch & release tetris variant from 1990 (not sure why the store page says 1989). I know it from the c64 but it was relased on pretty much everything at the time, as a novel take on tetris. the grandson is obviously less original. the 'how to play' section explains the basics and so will I, by ignoring the game's terminology. bricks are coming towards you on conveyor belts, you're controlling the paddle that can hold up to 5 pieces and drop them wherever. make matches of 3 or more of the same color vertically, horizontally or diagonally to get rid of them. grabbing a 6th piece or missing a few bricks fails the level. [b]arcade mode has 100 waves[/b], one after the other, each with their own goals (make x vertical combos, clear x bricks, reach x score, etc.) and [b]unlimited continues (lives) are at your disposal[/b], but the score resets when you screw up. levels ending in 1 or 6 (so 6, 11, 16, etc.) can be done quicker if you create certain letters from the blocks. there's an [b]endless endurance mode[/b] as well, can choose any of the 4 available settings, but [b]progress is not saved in either mode if you quit[/b]. absolutely unacceptable. but hey, local high scores are kept, ain't that neat? [b]only keyboard and controller are supported[/b], no mouse at all. not necessarily a huge deal, except [b]nothing is rebindable and some of it is inconsistent[/b]. esc doesn't act as 'back' in the main menu but brings up and closes the pause menu, and while enter and space both select in the main menu, only space works in the pause menu. what a mess. 'n' skips to the next song, wasd/arrows and space is all you need otherwise. s/down speeds up the conveyor belt, d/up throws the top brick back on the belt a little ways back, space drops what's on top. it's not exactly pretty, has that [b]cheap 90s 3d look[/b], and I miss the blocks rolling down from the old one, added some character. graphics itself are one thing but I could've done without the [b]background changing to the color of the last match, making same-colord blocks hard to see on the bottom[/b]. put in whatever fancy effects you want, just make them optional. it's not a problem in every setting but shouldn't be an issue at all. another distracting thing is [b]the basket (bottom part) is wider than the conveyor belts[/b], so I kept wanting to go left or right one more time to match the column with my paddle, but I was already there. there's a [b]column indicator on the bottom[/b], moves along with the paddle, but instead of completely unnecessary horizontal lines, [b]some vertical lines for clarity would've gone a long way[/b]. or, you know, don't ♥♥♥♥ up the most basic thing the original did right. that one also had a column indicator on the bottom even if it was less necessary. settings only include [b]separate but buggy volumes that don't get saved between sessions[/b], and while the music is nice, IN-GAME TRACKS ARE MUCH LOUDER THAN THE MUSIC IN THE MENU, by about this much, speaking vs. shouting. [b]no windowed mode[/b], alt+enter makes a non-resizable full screen window, gotta edit the registry for any other resolution. in-game representation of achievements, always nice, score display is the annoying 457543987 kind instead of 457,543,987 or similar, always annoying. it's not a complicated thing, certainly not original but could be fun and only costs 2 bucks (used to be 5 for a year or so after release), except [b]almost 30 years later they managed to make a lesser version of the original[/b]. par for the course, happens all the time, still disappointing. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1271760]minoes[/url] is another take on this mechanic by the same developer, without being a carbon copy of something else, and I [b]enjoyed it a lot more[/b].

Addictive little puzzler, one of those "just one more go" sort of games. Easy enough to begin with but gets very hard when the game starts throwing extra colours into the mix, out of the 100 waves I couldn't make it past 54. There are no death penalties however, so you can pick up right where you left off if you fumble a wave. The little background effects are a nice touch, pretty to look at, not enough to distract from the gameplay. Sound track is pretty good too!

Really quite addictive ! Had great fun competing with mates, love the tunes ALOT.

A simple idea that reaches back to the early days of puzzle gaming but with a modern twist on brick combination titles. Good music, simple yet enticing visuals and a bargain at £4. Straight to my favorites you go Stax!

good qix game

So, on a lark, I searched for Klax and up came Stax. After my initial confusion, I bought it without hesitation - it was only 2 bucks. I loved Klax. I played it in the arcade back in the 90's and I had it for original Xbox on some game compilation. I remember being pretty good at it. I miss that game and this "spiritual successor" is a pretty faithful replication. It is not super professional - besides resolution, I'm not sure if the graphics are really any better. I am slightly colorblind and have trouble seeing the difference between the green and the yellow, but that's not their fault. I feel like the tiles/board are a little too narrow. The game plays very well with a controller. I thank the developers for making this available. I wish we had a real port or official update from whomever owns the rights nowadays but I am very thankful that this is here on the Steam store and very cheap. I definitely spent more thatn $2 on this game on a daily basis at the arcade back in Chicago.

I love what this game is trying to do, but unfortunately it doesn't stick the landing. Nothing is really animated, everything feels so stagnant and lifeless. I love that it had an endless mode, which no version of klax had except gbc (the best port) but that didn't keep it score, it was just for practice. The big problems are these. The original klax had really similar colors, different shades of yellow or blue, this game still has those for some reason. I am really good at telling colors apart and it still gets me. Just use orange not "slightly darker yellow" The second thing is that they tried to do a perspective trick as the place where the pieces land is wider than the track above, but nobody actually scaled it so when the launcher is all the way left or right, it's actually above the second slot in. This is fine at its price but I'd rather pay ten bucks for a really good version.

good game :D

not as good as the arcade game