Prediction
Quarth was one of the games I bought during my recent expansion of my classic Gameboy library. I bought it because the cover looked kind of cool, and because it started with a “Q”. Really, how many games start with a “Q”? That makes this game like super rare and unique, right?
My inexplicable fascination of the letter “Q” aside, it did look like a cool game from the cover. It’s got a little spaceship like space invaders, but it’s also got falling blocks like Tetris. It’s a weird combination, and I’m not sure what to make of it yet. However, both of those games are amazing classics, so I can only imagine their love child should be just as much fun.
Gameplay
As I guessed, the game does feel like a combination of space invaders and Tetris. You play as a ship at the bottom of the screen while blocks fall from the top. Unlike Tetris, you’re not trying to arrange them in any way, also unlike space invaders, you’re not destroying the blocks either. Instead the objective is to add blocks to the shapes until they create a 4 sided shape. At which point the blocks will disappear.
While simply making squares and rectangles from the different blocks will get you through most of the game, there are some advanced strategies if you can pull them off. For starters, the shapes don’t have to be made from single starter blocks. If they’re next to each other and you can form a 4 sided shape out of them together, they will all disappear together. They don’t even have to be fully filled in. if you can make a four sided shape and still have a gap in the center it will still count.
You can also intentionally build up the blocks into HUGE blocks for a bigger score. If you make it big enough, you might even get a power up from your efforts. Hell if I know what they do, but you get them, and in the end, isn’t that the most important part.
Just don’t get over ambitious. If the blocks reach the bottom line, it’s game over. For the most part, it’s pretty easy to stay ahead of the blocks. It’s only at the really later levels that it actually got hard. Honestly, accidentally over building one side of a shape and needing to take extra time to smooth it out were usually the cause of my downfall.
That’s pretty much all there is to say about Quarth. There are multiple different ships you can pick from, but they don’t seem to play any differently. The colors might be a little different, but the gameplay seems to be unchanged.
Verdict
I love this game, and it’s actually really puzzling that it didn’t catch on as well as some of the other classics like space invaders and Tetris. I guess it is a few years newer than those games, having been released in 1989 compared to Tetris in 1984 and Space Invaders in 1978, so maybe it’s just a timing issue. The gameplay was simplistic but just as much fun as any other classic arcade style game. Even the music was rather enjoyable, though not nearly as memorable as some others I’ve heard. To sum it up, it was a great game. If you’ve never played it, give it a chance. I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Price – $6.00 well spent
Fun Rating – 8 / 10
This love child of Space Invaders and Tetris has definitely lived up to my expectations.
Play Again? – Absolutely!!
This game has such am amazing arcade charm to it. I have no regrets for having bought this, and I’m sure I’ll be coming back to it from time to time just as much as I would any other arcade classic.
Total Deaths – 4 Deaths
My longest run lasted roughly 15 minutes before I finally died. The combination of the increased speed and over shooting eventually did me in. It’s really fun, and I think most people should be able to easily survive quite a while.
What does “Quarth” mean anyway?
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