Game of the Day - Phozon (Nerd Alert)

Phozon is a nerd's dream.  Take it from me, I'm a nerd.  My all-time fav game is Quantum.  I played Quantum in 1981 at U of Illinois and loved it.  25 years later I found a dedicated Quantum in beautiful shape and scored it.  Of all my games (more than 30), the Quantum is the one I'll give up last.

 So, Phozon joins Quantum and Qix in my nerd arcade trinity.  In phozon you control a molecule (called Chemic) with a joystick.  Your goal is to build a larger molecule that matches the structure of the molecule pictured in the middle of the screen by adding atoms/pieces (Moleks) that are floating around the screen.  You simply touch them and they are added to your molecule RIGHT where you touch them.  Thus, the problem.  They are moving around all the time and it is surprisingly hard to get them to attach where you want (after the easy first level).  IF, an atom attaches where you don't want it to, you can use the button to eject it and it will go flying away.  The other issue is that there is a big floating/rotating thingy (Atomic) that chases you around the screen,  If it makes contact with the center-most part of your molecule, you die.  As it chases you, it also, on occasion, explodes and you have to avoid being touched by the individual parts.  This chase keeps you constantly on the move.  Unlike Qix, where you can hang out on the border for a while waiting for the Qix to go away (eventually sparx will get ya), there is no room to hide in Phozon.

Clear a few levels and you get a challenging stage where you actually go around shooting the enemy.  There are other happenings with other Moleks in higher levels that you can also discover.  Check out the flyer below (click to make it larger).