Not to be confused with Montezuma's Revenge
Let’s go back to the year 2001 for a moment. If you were a gamer back then, you may remember being shocked, irked, surprised, angry, thrilled, or mystified when you heard the techno music, the “clicks” and “tings”, and discovered your mom, your aunt, your kid brother, or the receptionist at your office playing video games on their computers.
It was Bejeweled, and with it, Popcap basically invented the genre known as “casual gaming”.
The big draw of casual gaming was a very low barrier-to-entry; you did not have to learn complex controls, get involved in a deep storyline, kill hordes of gun-toting antagonists, or repeat a frustrating feat of acrobatics again and again until you got the jump right.
Soon businesses were suffering productivity losses, families were falling apart, students were failing out of school, and nobody cared because they were all sucked into the bright, colorful world of Popcap games.
In 2003, Zuma entered the scene. If there’s one thing you can count on from Popcap, it is that they are masters of branding; you know the instant you see a game that it is from Popcap because of some of their signature elements: compelling sounds, unobtrusive yet catchy soundtracks, bright rainbow colors, and a humorous supporting cast. Zuma was no exception to this, and the use of these elements ensured a quick descent into the fiery depths of hellish addiction.
It is no surprise, then, that they’ve decided to make a sequel.
Popcap's humor hasn't gone anywhere
Not to toot my own horn here, but this humble reviewer has one of the top recorded scores in the world of Zuma. I was obsessed with this game back in 2004, and in July of that year I posted a screenshot of an insane score. Through the magic of interwebs I was discovered by PopCap PR and they told me a dirty secret: Zuma II, aka Zuma’s Revenge, was on the way, and would I like to review it?
I dusted off my frog, found my balls, and prepared to go back into the Aztec-ian world of temples, demons, and clicky clacky.
The first thing I will say about Zuma’s Revenge is that Popcap have done a real number on the graphics. Six years is a long time in computer terms, and it would have been almost inexcusable for them to not update the graphics, but they’ve outdone themselves. The game runs in the computer equivalent of 1080p, and can go up to 1920×1200, which is unheard of for Popcap games. Even their latest mega-hit, Plants vs. Zombies, runs at relatively low resolution in modern terms. Compare the screenshot of Plants vs. Zombies in full-screen mode to Zuma’s Revenge (click the image to view in full resolution)
Zuma II has really, really attractive graphics
Not only have they updated the resolution that the game will run at, but they’ve added serious 3D acceleration effects to the graphics. For example, in the level above, there are heat waves coming off the track, translucent smoke, and pulsating magma. You have the option to turn the effects off so that the game will still run on mom and dad’s computer, but it’s nice for Popcap to finally reward those of us with high-end hardware. This is easily the best looking game that Popcap has ever made.
Let’s get it out there: Zuma’s Revenge is essentially more of the same. If you’ve played Zuma, you will be able to jump right in to Zuma’s Revenge. Of course, that’s the hallmark of Popcap games; there is no story other than something vague about your frog maybe getting lost at sea and crash-landing on another island taken over by Zuma. I could be wrong. Who cares?
That said, there are many improvements and additions to the game. This is the hallmark of any good sequel; it’s familiar enough to players who loved the first, but there’s more of what made the first game great. In this case, the “more” comes in the form of new powerups, a new level type, boss fights, and new game types.
Powerups, or FROGS WITH FRIGGIN’ LASERS ON THEIR HEADS
The Tri-Shot
In addition to the now familiar Accuracy, Backwards, Slow, and Bomb balls, you will be able to power-up your frog with Lightning, Lasers, and Tri-shot.
The Lightning ball gives you the ability to pick a color to remove from the Curve. You aim the lightning bolt at, say, a gray ball, and all the gray balls will instantly explode. Clever use of this powerup can get you out of extremely tense situations.
The Laser ball gives you four shots with a laser beam. You aim the laser from the frog’s eyes, time slows down a bit, and you can shoot individual balls with pinpoint accuracy. This is a good tool to use to get other powerups, or get a pesky fruit (the replacement for the bonus coins) to score a bunch of bonus points.
Laser Shot
The Tri-shot fires three heavy iron balls in a cone formation from the frog’s mouth. They plow through everything in their way and do not stop. This is especially useful on levels where you have an angle along the line of the curve. You can take out an entire line of balls this way, or use the iron balls to get a fruit that is lost behind two or three rows of balls.
In all, the three new power-ups bring an exciting new dimension to the game, and open the doors to new kinds of strategies to defeat particularly vexing levels.
The new level type is what I call “Frog-on-Rails”. Instead of having your frog stuck in a circle from which you can spin, you are placed on a rail that runs either along the bottom, along the side, or directly through the center of the level. You can move back and forth, “Galaga” style, and fire upon the ever-relentless train of balls. It’s a refreshing twist, and in the higher levels, a maddening challenge.
Lightning bolt!
There’s another slight twist that I don’t consider a whole new level type, but there are a few levels with two circles that you can warp back and forth between to find different angles of attack. While these levels can be beaten without “jumping” to the other circle, it’s certainly a challenge, even for very experienced players.
As I briefly touched on before, the bonus point coins which used to make your “Zuma” bar fill up faster have been replaced with fruits. This is an inexplicable change, and they function in the exact same way as coins in Zuma I – they give you bonus points and end the round quicker.
“I AM IMMUNE TO BALLS!”
Maga Maga is one of the new bosses
So says Baron Digo, one of the new bosses in Zuma’s Revenge. The boss levels are a fantastic new twist to the game. There are six locations on the island that you must clear, and there is a boss at the end of each. The boss fights take place “on rails”, and each has a gimmick that must be used to destroy him. The first two are fairly simple but they get rapidly more complex; for some you simply have to shoot them, while the most difficult ones require getting rid of guardians, shields, or a relentless stream of balls while avoiding fire from the boss that nerfs you (such as making your input work backwards, or slowing you down to a crawl).
The final boss fight was quite challenging, but nothing that this seasoned player couldn’t get through in a couple of tries.
That brings me to the final point: The difficulty.
This game is easier than its predecessor, without a doubt. I remember when I first started playing the original Zuma, that the difficulty ramped up to “frustratingly insane” after level 10. The final level, “space” was incredibly difficult. It took days of practice to beat it. I beat Zuma’s Revenge in one night, and it only took me two tries to beat the final level. However, that’s just the “adventure mode”. As is a trend with Popcap games, beating the “primary” mode opens up more game modes and challenges to surmount. In this game, the ultimate challenge is “Iron Frog mode”. Once I opened up Iron Frog mode, it was nostalgia central. Now this is the “want-to-punch-my-monitor”, “must-not-chuck-my-mouse-across-the-room” difficulty I remember from Zuma! You get one life to beat 10 levels; and these levels are about as difficult as any from the final levels of Zuma I. The balls come fast and furious, they are highly mixed up, and power-ups are hard to come by. I made it to the sixth level of Iron Frog mode, and was relieved when I died because I felt like I was going to have a heart attack in real life.
Here lies Brian, he died playing that RIDICULOUS GAME, ZUMA.
Dear Popcap: Send the condolence check to my kids.
Zuma’s Revenge is available on Steam for $19.99, and comes with 13 achievements. Good luck.
One of the crazier boss fights in the game
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