Zuma Deluxe (Xbox Live Arcade) Review
Posted by Steve McHugh on 04.13.2007
Balls.
Playing this game I have discovered one main thing: brightly colored balls are evil little bastards.
Quite a heavy statement you may think, but play this game for too long and they’ll start to haunt your dreams. You’ll see little colored balls around every corner and when you close your eyes that’s all you’ll see. Evil little balls of blue, red, green and yellow. And a big frog in a temple that spits out even more balls.
By now you’re probably wondering exactly when the men in white coats are going to come and take me away for some ‘quiet time’ but I’m not actually a raving maniac just yet. You see in Zuma you play as a giant frog that spits out colored balls in an attempt to stop the continuing onslaught of the little gits. As per the majority of puzzle games like this, get 3 or more of 1 color together and they vanish.
Unlike most puzzle games though, the balls are always moving steadily towards you and if they do manage to reach you its game over, go back to the beginning of the level. The problem is that the balls follow a path towards you that can snake around and make it incredibly hard to get the little frog to fire a ball at the place you want it to go.
If you miss too much then you’ll constantly be pushing the moving line even closer towards you meaning that every shot really does count. It’s not all doom and gloom though, as throughout the levels various balls will turn into power ups which, if you manage to remove them in time, will bestow a variety of effects. These range from stopping time, to the always useful backwards ball which moves everything a few inches back. These easily make the difference between completing and failing a level.
Also by the time you get to level 5 you should start to use a variety of tactics; the main one of which is to start chains. When you remove a collection of balls the surrounding ones move into to fill the void. If timed right these too will make a chain of 3 meaning you’ll start to get a higher score and it’ll also give you the added bonus of moving the line back.
Getting a high score is critical in this game as the balls only stop coming when you’ve filled up your score meter. After that it’s up to you to just remove the last ones without worrying that a whole bunch more will be right behind it.
It all sounds very confusing but after a few minutes you’ll soon get the hang of it and start shooting through the first 4 temples with ease (there are 20 temples with 5 or 6 stages in each) and then you’ll meet temple 5 and hit a proverbial brick wall. This huge spike in difficulty really does come as a shock but fortunately the game is so addictive that you’ll be able to keep playing and will eventually get past it.
The graphics and sound match the game perfectly. The graphics are simple and functional but look the part and the music is so catchy you’ll find yourself humming it. It all matches up to a great package but there are problems.
I don't know why he's smiling, he's about to die.
Firstly the game can occasionally prove to be a hugely frustrating experience as you will get punished for even the slightest mistake. It’s not fair but its one of the types of problem inherent in a game like this. Also the lasting appeal is questionable as although there’s a lot of stages and even a survival mode it’s not something you’ll never go back to. A game like this is dying out for a multiplayer mode and there isn’t any. It seems like a huge oversight. The achievements are also a little on the odd side and range from completing stages to playing for 24 hours which I can’t see anyone ever wanting to do.
However the big problem is the 800 points price tag which seems a little excessive. 600 points would have been about as much as this game should be but it was an early title on XBLA and all of the early games had weird pricing, something Microsoft really need to go back and correct.
The 411
Overall this is a great game and a lot of fun while it lasts. It’s a shame there isn’t more variety in what you can do but it’s still one of the best puzzle games available for a download. At the very least you should get a trial version downloaded to have a go.
Graphics
6.4
Functional and nice but nothing special and doesn’t stretch the 360 even slightly.
Gameplay
8.2
A lot of fun and genuinely addictive but there will be plenty of frustrating occasions when you’re punished for making a tiny mistake. You’ll always come back to the game though.
Sound
7.1
Background music but you will start to hum some of it occasionally.
Lasting Appeal
7.5
It’ll last a while but once it’s finished that’s it. Multiplayer should have been added.
Fun Factor
8.8
A massive amount of fun to be had and even when it frustrates you’ll still enjoy yourself. The joy you will feel when you finish a difficult temple is unmatched.
