Pop (WiiWare) review

[R.O.B.]

Pop - WiiWare

Pop is designed to be enjoyed by all ages, either in single player or with up to three friends and allows people to steal points from opponents and use the controller to pump up the bubbles for bigger explosions. It is based around a simple concept which anyone can pick and play with layers of ski..

Rating: 8/10

Read the Pop (WiiWare) review

Source: wiiware-world.com

[The shoemaker]

Pop is a very simple, yet fun and unique game. And I'm actually glad i bought it. I never really thought, just popping bubbles could be so much fun.

The main objective is obviously, to pop as many bubbles as possible. You use the wii remote to move your courser on the screen, then you try to pop the bubbles. you can press A or B to pop the bubbles. small bubbles are worth more points, but you don't get a big time increase, and big bubbles are worth less points, but you get a bigger time increase. if you pop the same bubble color multiple times in a row, each time you pop one, the amount of points you would get, will increase. But once you pop a different color, the points you earn will go back to normal. Also if you hold A or B on a bubble, you can enlarge it, and move it. Or if you hold a bubble, and start shaking your wiimote, the bubble will turn into a little bomb and explode where you let go of it. also every time you miss a bubble, you lose 3 seconds, and if you keep missing, those 3 seconds add up fast.

Items
Along with your amazing bubble popping abilities, you can also you items in the game. In single player there's three items, and in multiplayer there's 6. So in single player, there's one item, where if you pop it, it will slow time for a little while. Another one is a bomb item. It's just like the bombs you make when you hold a bubble and shake, but this bomb is much bigger and works better. And there's also the pointer enlarger. If you pop this bubble, your courser will enlarger, making popping bubbles much easier. In multiplayer, you get all of the same single player items, along with 3 new ones. On of them is a lightening bolt thing. If you pop it, you can zap your opponents. Once your opponents have been zapped, they can't pop bubbles for a few seconds. Another one is the flashlight. if you pop this one, the whole screen will go black, except for a circle of light around your curser, allowing you to see the bubbles, and your opponents can't. It wears off in a few seconds. And the last one is the shrinker. When you pop this bubble, it shrinks your opponents courser, this way it's harder for him/her to pop bubbles.
There's also other bubbles that arn't really items. There's the evil skull bubble, and the multiply bubble. the skull bubble takes off 200 points each time you pop one. And the multiply one will multiply your points and score by what number is on it (x1,x2,x3,x4,x5,x6,x7,x8...)

Music effects.
I gotta ammit, pop did a really good job on this factor. Every level in the game has a different piece of music. And the songs are created in a unique way, like how Do Re Mi did it. Most songs have certain little parts that will just stick to you, or remind you of a game. There's also little sound effects from the remote. Each time you pop a bubble, the wii remote makes a bubble popping noise. But it's pretty cool, because the sound is different for each bubble. like if you pop a big bubble, the remote makes that kind of sound, if you pop a small one, it makes a little sound. and if you pop multiple bubbles, it makes a whole bunch of sounds.

Training
I haven't tied this much, but I'm pretty sure you just pop there without any time.

Normal
Normal mode has 16 levels with 16 different songs. what i really like about the levels, id that each one is really different from the other. Like one might be scrolling left, right, up down, have ocean backgrounds, colorful or dark backgrounds, and different speeds. Like there can be slow speed with lots of bubbles, or slow with not much bubbles, or fast with a lot of bubbles, or fast with not much bubbles, or some can have more small than big bubbles, or more big than small, some will have more items than others, some will only have one or two. It's really nice, none of the levels ever feel the same. But in Normal mode you just try to get the best score possible. You start out with 30 seconds, and you can make the number go up or down, by popping or missing bubbles. The max time you can have is 99.99 seconds. So you must try to get lots of bubbles, while figuring out combinations, and watching your time. and it's cool because in one second you can go from having 90 seconds, to 50 seconds. Also there's a few bonus levels in normal, where you just try to pop lots of bubbles in a set of time, then that will be added to your score. Also once you get a game over, it will show you your worldwide ranking, and lets you see who is in the ten ten.

Advanced is exactly the same as Normal, but except you start with 20 seconds, and your being timed to see how long it takes you to get 99,999,999 points. And you can also see your worldwide ranking on this too.

Chill mode is just you go through the levels, without items, timer, or point, it's just to releax. like if you just want to test out some things, or if you don't want a timer, you just want to pop some bubbles.

And there's so many unique things in pop, things no one would even notice, like how when you pop a bubble, every bubble around that bubble reacts to it, or how a bubble pops, or some certain backgrounds and stuff.

When I play pop, my time ranges from 20 minutes to an hour and a half. so you can play it in short bursts, or long. I'd have to say, that 700 points is a steal, because this game has unlimited deltails, and i can tell Noooo is gonna be a great developer.

graphics 9/10
gameplay 8/10
replayiblity 8/10
music 8/10.

[Radretrogamer]

i might pick it up... still not decided though.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

I'm surprised that Pop was rated so highly. I thought people would get sick of the repetitive gameplay. After all, that's the complaint that some people had about Dr. Mario, and Dr. Mario is clearly the superior game. Must just be that new vs. old factor.

[Tull]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

I'm surprised that Pop was rated so highly.

For strange scores check the IGN WW reviews.

[The shoemaker]

Originally Posted by Tull

For strange scores check the IGN WW reviews.

lol IGN hates the things I love. And Jogurt, I don't find the gameplay repetitive. But it's more of a game to play in short bursts. I play twice a day for 20-30 minutes.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Tull

For strange scores check the IGN WW reviews.

No thanks.

Originally Posted by Shoe

But it's more of a game to play in short bursts. I play twice a day for 20-30 minutes.

I'm using Wii Fit for that. Maybe if I'm in need of a party game and a buddy gives me a few bucks towards it, I'll consider Pop. Anyway, I don't think it looks all that bad, I'm just surprised it got such a high score when Dr. Mario got docked.

[The shoemaker]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

No thanks.



I'm using Wii Fit for that. Maybe if I'm in need of a party game and a buddy gives me a few bucks towards it, I'll consider Pop. Anyway, I don't think it looks all that bad, I'm just surprised it got such a high score when Dr. Mario got docked.

I'm not too surprised. Pop is a new and unique game no one has seen before, Dr. mario has been re made how many times?

[Radretrogamer]

well Defend your Castle is very repetitive, but i really enjoy it, so if thats the only thing about PoP thats a negative i suppose its worth a DL....

i dont know, i cant seem to bring myself to buy this game, even though i can see myself enjoying it. how wierd is that!?

the 7$ price tag might have something to do with it, id much rather it be 5$. id give almost anything a shot at 5$.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Radretrogamer

i dont know, i cant seem to bring myself to buy this game, even though i can see myself enjoying it. how wierd is that!?

the 7$ price tag might have something to do with it, id much rather it be 5$. id give almost anything a shot at 5$.

Right there with you, my friend. Right there with you.

[AlexSays]

i can't make myself buy this game either.
i see myself enjoying it for the first couple days, but then never playing it again.
maybe its the 700 points?

[The shoemaker]

I think the 700 points is the thing that makes everyone uneasy, I felt the same way. I thought it was gonna be 500 so 700 just seams weird. I gotta say i really like this game, but I'd get bored out of my head if I played it for two hours straight. But I would have a blast if a waited 15 minutes in between each time I played it. But it is possible for me to play this game for an hour without getting bored.

Even though i haven't played it, Pop is just like Star Soldier R. It's just an endless shoter where you try to get the best score possible, but using different powerups and such within a time limit.