Reviewed: April 28, 2006
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Oberon Media
Developer
PopCap Games
Released: March 22, 2006
Genre: Puzzle
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
8
8
6
8
7.8
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Astropop is a straightforward action-puzzle game that offers a tremendous challenge, exciting gameplay, vibrant colors, and even manages to work in a bit of drama. With four unique starting characters (two of which are locked), 33 levels, and two gameplay modes to choose from, there is plenty of action and strategy waiting for everyone.
The rules for Astropop are as easy as they come. You pick one of four pilots, each with their own ship and specialty weapons, and then you enter the playing field where rows and columns of multi-colored bricks are slowly advancing toward you ship located at the bottom of the screen.
You can move sideways only and activate a tractor beam to pull like-colored bricks from the oncoming cluster then fire them back into the group above trying to create groups of four or more bricks of the same color. These can be vertical or horizontal or a combination of both. When you do, these blocks will explode and any blocks below those will compact back towards the top of the screen.
At first (the first 3-4 levels) this is a fairly easy task, but all too soon the brick field starts advancing more rapidly and a barrier wall will appear preventing you from even grabbing at the bricks in the uppermost rows. So what starts off as a fairly plodding puzzle game rapidly turns into a frantic shooter of sorts.
Controls are fairly simple. You can grab and fire blocks with the A/B or L and R triggers and move your ship with left stick. My only complaint is that the analog stick is way too sensitive for accurate movement. In games like Galaga, etc. it doesn't really matter as much as this game where you have to actually line yourself up in a specific column. I kept finding myself going too far or not far enough, and in the final stages it only takes a second of innaccuracy to blow the game.
As the blocks get lower your ability to move sideways with more than three or four blocks stacked on your ship may become impaired. But the true reward is when you master the art of the combo. Granted, most combos are by accident, especially in the later levels when you barely have time to survive, let alone plan strategy, but in the beginning you can strategically place blocks so that when they vanish and the blocks below them get sucked towards the top they will make their own 4-or-more cluster, creating a chain reaction.
The game mixes things up by throwing in dozens of bonus levels, each with their own specific challenge. As you advance through the game specialty blocks will appear. Some of these are explosive blocks while others cannot be destroyed unless they are adjacent to an exploding cluster. If you perform well enough you can also activate your ship’s super-weapon that allows you even more creative freedom in clearing the play field.
In addition to the classic mode, which tells the story of each character as you progress through all the levels, there is also a survival mode where you simply play for as long as you can stay alive, much like Tetris. Score for both modes are tallied and compared on the Xbox Live leaderboards.
Astropop is extremely colorful with a charming anime-style design for the characters. The blocks are simple shapes with vivid colors, set against a scrolling space theme background, and the entire gameplay screen is framed with a vibrant purple and orange background to fill in the sides for those with widescreen TV’s.
Everything is extremely crisp and brilliant thanks to 1080i support. Special effects include nice lighting, particle explosions, streaking lasers, and a colorful, yet informative status box that borders the play area. Just one look and any kid will be mesmerized with Astropop.
There is a great upbeat techno soundtrack that is light and jazzy. It fits with the fun, casual, and sometimes intense gameplay. There is either a lot of music or they do a great job of hiding the fact that it repeats, because I’ve spent hours with this game and it’s never gotten annoying yet.
There is no speech for any of the characters, but there is a small amount of captioned dialogue used between missions to tell a nice little story. If you play the game as all the characters you will learn how they all interrelate, but it really doesn’t have anything to do with the gameplay.
Sound effects are slightly futuristic and pretty simple. You have subtle sounds as you grab and fire back blocks into the cluster above followed by some decent explosions. These get more powerful if a nuke happens to be involved. There are also some nice effects for the super-weapons, but Astropop doesn’t really test the limits of sound design. It just works.
I couldn’t really see that much difference between playing any of the four available characters. Sure, each ship has a different weapon, but it all boils down to doing the same thing – clearing blocks quickly. The only real reason to play through as each character would be for the achievement points.
Speaking of which, there are 200 gamer score points waiting for those with the patience and skill to earn them. Some are brutally hard while others will just fall in your lap. Expect to spend days and weeks trying to get them all, but with a game like Astropop, you’ll be playing for that long anyway.
Astropop is a charming and colorful puzzle game that mixes things up with some anime-style storytelling and even some space shooter action elements to create an original and engaging gameplay experience that will delight young and old alike for months to come.
The game does tip toward the difficult side of the spectrum, so be prepared for a challenge like no other. But like any other XBLA game, check out the trial version for yourself. I think you’ll end up unlocking the full version if you do.