It happens everywhere... films, books, clothes, music, and even computer games. When someone comes up with a successful idea, everyone else rips it off. Never mind! So long as the punters enjoy the results, does it really matter that Klax is a thinly-disguised imitation of Tetris? I don't think so, M. Poirot.
The concept, as marketing people like to call it, is simple. Different coloured tiles approach you, not tumbling through the air, but along a rolling conveyor belt. Your task is to move your catcher left and right, catch the tiles and flip them into one of five bins, in order to create Klaxes. A Klax is a row of three tiles of the same colour, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Once a Klax is made, the tiles disappear, and those above them tumble down. If you're very clever (or lucky) this will create further Klaxes, and the chain reaction will score you many tens of points, as Patrick Moore would say. But if the drop meter shows that you have missed more tiles than you are allowed, or if your bins fill up - each one can hold up to five tiles - you're finished, laddie.
But it can't be that simple, you cry! No. It ain't. For a start there are Wild Tiles which change colour as they move, and can become part of more than one Klax of different colours, so they're worth a bundle. Then there's the Speed-up option which allows you to make the conveyor belt run faster, and the Throw Option which lets you fling a tile back onto the belt.
The game is divided into Waves, and each Wave has its own rules; for instance, insisting that you survive a certain number of tiles, or getting a particular number of diagonal Klaxes - diagonal ones, by the way, score more than horizontal or vertical ones because they're harder to get.
Label: Domark
Price: £8.95
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins