PC: Pop-a-Tronic

Ratings

Graphics:8.00 [Bar of Width 80]
Sound:10.00 [Bar of Width 100]
Gameplay:8.00 [Bar of Width 80]
Replays:10.00 [Bar of Width 100]
Gamelength:10.00 [Bar of Width 100]

Our Take

Meridian 4's "Pop-a-Tronic" brings a whole new meaning to the act of popping bubbles.

Ahh, good ol' Meridian 4. They're at it again and the final product is as addictive as ever! "Pop-a-Tronic" is a fairly generic concept with a new style that gives a breath of new life to the beaten horse that is the "click and destroy" style of game play.

The visuals of "Pop-a-Tronic", while fairly simplistic, are still wonderfully appealing. The colours are bright, the interface is simple and nothing is overdone. There's not much to say here because really, when it comes down to it, it's still the same "match the colours" concept and it definitely looks the part.

Music and sound effects are what make this game better than the competition. The music is an awesome up-beat electronic and at times "Jazzy" sound that sometimes reminds me of oldschool "Mega Man" games. It really is lacking you in and fits the frantic fast action pace of the game perfectly. All of the sound effects are equally impressive, even if a little generic and work well with the music and visuals to create an appealing atmosphere that fits the game dead-on.

There's not much to be said about the game's concept, as it's been done many, many times in the past. "Pop-a-Tronic" is a very cliche, fast-paced "click and destroy" style puzzle game in which the player must move the mouse over a set of 3 or more matching bubbles of the same color and simply click the left mouse button to pop them. More bubbles fall from the top of the screen and as you reach higher levels, the rate at which the new bubbles drop increases, ultimately reaching insane speeds. There's a slight innovation on this concept, however, in the form of "inhaling". The player has the option to "inhale" a bubble for later use by clicking on the right mouse button when the cursor is over top of the bubble he or she wishes to inhale. When the player is ready to use this "inhaled" bubble, simply move the mouse to where you wish to place the bubble and click the right mouse button. The bubble will be "exhaled" and placed back into the playing field. You may inhale and exhale as many times as you want, but you must be extremely careful about the placement of your bubbles, as the game eventually becomes way too fast to allow any room for mistakes. There are also special pieces that show up, such as bombs and color-changing pieces. As an example, the first special piece that you'll most likely encounter is a rapidly changing bomb. If you click on the bomb, all bubbles in play that are of the same color as the bomb was when you clicked on it will be destroyed. In addition, there are 4 modes of play that all become available as you obtain 5 high scores in each mode. Marathon mode is the most basic choice and is the only available mode of play when you first start the game. As with almost every other puzzle game, the player simply keeps going and popping bubbles until the screen fills up, causing a classic "Game Over". Puzzle mode tasks the player with destroying all of the bubbles on screen, which is no easy task. Lock-On mode is where the game gets a bit insane. Bubbles slowly move from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen and they start transforming into unusable bubbles right away, forcing the player to work extremely fast. To make matters worse, you may not use any power-ups in Lock-On mode. In the fourth and final mode, entitled Self-Destruct, the rules of the game are completely reversed. You may not simply pop bubbles and instead must rely completely on your ability to inhale and exhale. You must inhale a bubble, then exhale that same bubble in an appropriate spot to create a combo. Between these 4 very well-made modes of play, there's a lot of ways to keep the game fresh. I started off playing this game thinking it was a generic puzzle game, eventually getting addicted to the point that I really didn't want to stop playing. It's definitely a high calibur puzzle game and will keep most people busy for extended periods of time. Also, I should probably make it known that the game starts you off with 3 different colors of bubbles, but eventually ups the ante to a total of 5 colors.

Overall, I think Meridian 4 is simply grabbing the gaming industry by the cajones and showing it who's boss. This game, as with every other Meridian 4 title I've played thus far, is simply incredible, addictive and worth the money.

Pros:
-Simple, yet appealing graphics.
-Soundtrack is sure to get your head bobbing.
-Tried and tested, yet greatly improved puzzle formula.
-4 modes have extreme amounts of variation.
-Almost too addictive.
-Easy to pick up.
-Even easier to get into.
-Very, very long.

Cons:
-As cool as this game is, it follows the most-used puzzle formula out there.

Bottom Line:
If you're a fan of puzzle games, buy "Pop-a-Tronic" as soon as you possibly can. Meridian 4 is nothing short of impressive and provided they get enough support, they'll keep producing the same quality games for many years to come.

Overall Rating: 9.00

Steven Marsh
March 03, 2008