Zuma Deluxe

The Good
It's a very addicting puzzle game, much better than other games built on the same idea.

The graphics are simple but beautiful.

The levels have very different layouts, even if they repeat from time to time.

Basically in this game you must react quickly but think quickly, too. If you think a little in advance you can blow a lot of balls in a single move. And the bonuses are simple, but efficient. You are well rewarded if you finish a level very quick and if you shoot coins - you get points and that mean supplemental frogs. And a place in the hall of fame !!! You can play also the "Gauntlet", to prove that you are the best for a certain level or to train for difficult layouts. I managed to finish it once, but my wife 3 times !!! I think this can be a very fun game for girls, I know at least three girls that loved this game.

The Bad
Well, it's quite difficult. The worst thing is that the luck is very important. Even if you play one level perfectly it's possible that you can't pass. So you lose a hard-earned "frog" (you get a supplementary "frog" at every 50,000 points).

I think that you don't stand a chance to finish if you didn't accumulate at least 10 "frogs" before level 10. So, you must play without losing any life at least the first 10 levels.

This game doesn't tolerate any mistakes, especially in higher levels. You'll lose a lot of frogs in the difficult layouts because of bad luck.

One more annoying thing: only 3 places in the hall of fame, that's not enough for the effort that you make for getting there.

The Bottom Line
This is a kind a game that if you like it, you'll spend too much time playing it.

Even if the idea is very simple (shoot balls and when you get three of the same color they disappear), Zuma is very well made and can be very addictive. It's fun because you must be very quick but also to think very fast.

You'll get not very far in the game if you don't hunt for coins and bonuses and don't take risks to shoot between rows of balls.

The Good
As you may know from the description, you control a frog idol whom you rotate with the mouse and use to shoot balls at a track to eliminate all the balls before they reach the skull. Sound boring? No.

Zuma is extremely addictive, and it's very hard to stop playing (unless you're just making some quick screenshots, but that's sort of an abberation). It starts out innocently enough with a spiral shaped track. Each level gets gradually eviller until you see some of the most outrageous possibilities. One level has the track overlapping itself and then going through tunnels. In fact, many do. One is shaped like a triangle, another has two tracks, and while I haven't played through all the levels yet, I'm pretty sure there's eventually going to be a monkey. Okay, maybe not a monkey, but you get the idea.

As the balls get close to the skull, its mouth begins to open and warning music begins to play. I haven't played straight for five hours, but if you were to, that warning music would probably begin to haunt your dreams. Gameplay does get very tense as the balls near the skull. The only way to stop them is to add more balls, which pushes them closer until you can make a set.

Fortunately, there are lots of ways to earn bonus points. Points are the key to winning - when you have enough points, no more balls will enter the level, leaving you to eliminate the remaining ones. Eliminating a large amount of balls at the same time, eliminating a chain of balls between two chains of the same color so that they are in turn eliminated, eliminating balls by shooting a ball through a gap, and hitting coins that occasionally appear all give you more points. Points are gooooood.

The Bad
The music is well done, but it isn't very varied. That's a minor nitpick, but I have to say it. Playing the game also may drastically hurt your social life.

The Bottom Line
If you don't have anything to do within the next day or so, give Zuma a try. However, if you're not single, have children, and/or have an important job, stay away, because it will probably keep you away from those things for a while.

The Good
The beautiful graphics with optional support of 3D acceleration gives additional dynamics to the game. Main heroes of the game, the frog and the Aztec, has memorable images. Their conversation during Adventure mode put the player into the mysterious plot full of Aztec mystery known by legends about their alien legacy. Even when frog replies "Ribbit." or "Ribbit!" or "Ribbit?", it is more then enough. Stimulation of the game is also uncovering the hidden levels during Adventure mode. Then in Gauntlet mode it will allow the player to play on uncovered level to raise the skill or/and to make a high score. In the Gauntlet mode player can acquire a medal of different skill level, where frog can be Eagle or Jaguar or even Sun God. This hierarchy breaks the famous Russian phrase - "The one who was born to crawl will never fly" (inspired by Maxim Gorky) - and it is very optimistic. The game is a challenge. Sometimes it is very difficult to pass a level, even with all bonuses. Bonuses are optimal, they are not very hard to take, but do not give you absolute advantage to pass a level. A help lines after finishing the level will also uncover a new features of the game. So passing the game is progressive on all the way from the very beginning to the glorious ending.

The Bad
The game has a save game feature, but it isn't perfect. The player can save game as it was in Diablo II. For those who want a fate in the game it is good, but for those who want to pass a game in Adventure mode it is a great disappointment. Thirteen stages are not very big collection even if it takes a week to pass for average player. Also I think it is somewhat inconvenient for the first time to change a ball of frog.

The Bottom Line
The game with beautiful graphics is a very good challenge to people of all ages, where logic combines with action and arcade and even with mysterious adventure. Animal (the frog) as main hero gives an additional charm to playing. Sleepless nights for average players, bright new mornings for profie's are provided by this game, where you can do nothing but shoot a color ball in dynamic line of balls. But the idea is simple only at the first sight. For me it reflects our present life - The method of solving our present problems until their sequence will lead to failure (for example, it is bankruptcy for business). And only you can decide which portion of problems to solve now in glorious path to success. I recommend this game for all of us. It is definitely!