Way on the last MAME game page, behind all the piles of arcade games with random names like 'sdle-12' and other who-knows-whats, I found...a game with a name. It's called Volfied, and it's actually pretty fun.  Also, turns out it's a sort of branch in the Qix game series.  The core gameplay of Volfied is a lot like Qix, but with some differences (obviously).

One difference is that this game has a plot...

Screenshots: "It was a long trip.... The spaceship "Monotros" returned to his planet, "Volfied" / But, Volfied had already changed into ruins from invasion of aliens! / At the time, he caught "SOS" from underground. He decided to rescue the people from the aliens!"

...or, I guess, 'plot.' It's not like arcade games really need strong plots, though, or even strong English.  Volfied's all about the gameplay!

You control Monotros as it/he flies around the edges of the screen.  Your goal: seal off 80% of the screen by forming geometric shapes. Y'know, squares and rectangles.  When you hit CTRL, Monotros can fly off of the main path and start to form a shape.  At the same time, you have to watch the enemies.  Typically there are a few small ones (still larger than your puny, puny ship) and one 'boss.'  Depending on the level, they might fly around spasmodically or actively seek and attack you.  Luckily, if you surround a grey box, you're likely to get a power-up.  These include lasers and a speed boost - both very useful.  Another way to win a level is to defeat the 'boss,' which can be accomplished fairly easily by using said lasers.

Get hit once and you lose a life; get hit three times and it's game over.  Adding more credits does not start you off on the same stage.  Additionally, you have a 'Shield' meter near the bottom of the screen.  I'm not exactly sure what the shield the game's referring to is, but I do know that when it starts to get low (about 100 'schmeconds'), more enemies will spiral in like a swarm of alien locusts, and you'll lose if you don't hurry the heck up.

On to my opinions about the gameplay already!  It's classic fast-paced arcade action.  I looked into other editions of Qix and Volfied on other consoles a tad after playing this and realized, 'Hey, this version IS a little faster.' Normally in these sorts of titles, after you've completed a shape the game will pause for a fraction of a second, and maybe even play a musical sting.  You get none of that in Volfied.  It doesn't seem like it would make a difference, but for me, it streamlines the experience a bit and makes it more enjoyable.

However, I don't like the time limit this game imposes.  I've never liked time limits in video games.  Sure, they're part of the challenge, but by the same token they can be frustrating.  I have never managed to get past level two...ever...and I even have trouble making it past level one, so I'd put the difficulty up sort of high.  Nonetheless, this game is very addicting, so much so that I came back to it again and again, despite knowing that the mountain of challenge I would face every time is insurmountable.  I don't really know if addictive gameplay with a small number of difficult levels (according to the high scores list, at least five) makes a game worthy of a higher 'depth' rating, so forgive me if I screw that rating up.

There are sound effects in Volfied, but there's almost no music to speak of.  Overall, sound is nothing memorable.  The graphics are pretty good, if lacking in unique-osity, and about SNES-quality.  These sections are non-objectionable, but nothing to write home about.

That's Volfied for you: an enjoyable twist on the pseudo-classic Qix.  For something that was on the very, very last page of this site's arcade games, I'd say this game's been overlooked.  At the same time, I only gave it a moderately high rating because while I like the game, it's got flaws...just not enough to warrant it getting the cold shoulder.  If you like arcade action, it's your jam.