Reviewed: October 11, 2007
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
MumboJumbo
Developer
GameHouse Studios
Released: September 14, 2007
Genre: Puzzle
Players: 1-2
7
8
7
8
7.8
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Super Collapse is back for its third installment, this time on the PSP in Super Collapse! 3. We get a lot of these action-puzzle games in for review each year and most of them are good for a few days of diversionary gameplay, but for some reason this one seems to have stayed in my PSP longer than most. I’m not sure exactly why; perhaps it brings back fond memories of playing Bubble Bobble on my cell phone or Zoo Keeper on my NDS. For whatever reason, I’m in this game for the long haul, or at least until I can finish the Quest mode.
Super Collapse 3 is packed with variety and even some new features. There is an extended Free Play area along with Quick Play and the engaging Quest mode that will have you working your way across a large and colorful map of puzzles and challenges. Plus, when you factor in 7 Collapse modes, 10 mini-games, and 140 shiny new and colorful puzzles, you have the making of a quality puzzle game for the entire family.
Super Collapse is based on a very simple premise, click on any group of three or more adjoining blocks of matching color and they will vanish, sending anything above collapsing toward the bottom. If you are lucky those falling blocks will create more clusters of matching blocks you can erase with a simple tap of the cursor. The ultimate test is to finish each level with a 100% rating, which means that every click you make removes some blocks.
In some modes, line after line of multi-colored blocks will keep feeding in from the bottom, creating a sense of urgency, as you must keep the entire playfield from reach the top. Power-ups like bombs will help eradicate nearby blocks or remove an entire color from the screen. If you can hold out for the duration of all the incoming lines you will win the challenge and move on.
There are several challenging game modes that include Classic play where lines stream in from the bottom, Relapse, where lines come in from the top and bottom, Strategy, where lines only appear each time you click, and the evil Slider mode where rows of blocks are moving back and forth always changing the color groupings. There is also a Continuous mode, which is basically a survival mode where you play until you lose and a timer mode called Countdown where you score as many points as possible in the set time.
Then you have the Puzzle mode, which fill the screen with a mosaic pattern of tiles and then wants you to wipe the screen clean with a certain number of moves. Often, the titles of these puzzles (“the eyes have it”) are a clue as to how to win the puzzle. There is a special puzzle piece reward if you can finish the puzzle in the minimum number of moves.
Throughout the game you will collect coins for completing puzzles and challenges. These can be spent in the shops to purchase clues and power-ups that will appear in a small menu window during gameplay. These allow you to remove a certain color from the screen or temporarily halt new lines from coming in from the bottom. There are more than a dozen of these clever items you can buy and experiment with.
In the Quest mode you will work your way along a winding map spanning all sorts of terrain, which will ultimately affect the designs and screen backgrounds for the puzzles you will play in those areas. You have tropical, snowy, and volcanic areas just to name a few.
Super Collapse 3 is just a fun and colorful game with great use of primary colors and a vibrant design that will attract kids and adults. Menus are simple, icons are fun, and the screens are organized perfectly.
There are a handful of tunes included with Super Collapse 3 that range from bouncy and cheerful (think Mario on the NES) to some rather suspenseful background tracks. It definitely fits with the visual style and gameplay.
Sound effects are few but fun with the ominous ticking of the blocks as they count down before entering the play area. There are also plenty of sounds for the power-ups like explosions and whooshing noises, etc. and the casino offers some realistic slot machine sounds.
Older gamers can probably make their way through the Quest mode in a few days, but it could take weeks or months to get a perfect 100% on every level and there are so many fun and challenging modes that Super Collapse 3 will likely stick around for several months, and for $20 you couldn’t ask for a better return on your investment.
While the Super Collapse 3 borrows on ideas from everything from Tetris to Bubble Bobble, it does a great job of maintaining its own identity with a color and charm that is wholly unique and a great additional to anyone’s PSP library of casual games.