Jan 29
XBLA - Zuma Deluxe
If you’ve seen ol’ KillSteelah on XBox Live lately, he’s playing one of two games.
The first of course is Guitar Hero III, which is still kicking my a$$ (still can’t get back Raining Blood on Expert but I have finished the rest). And the second one is my new obsession - Zuma Deluxe!
For the last couple of days, I’ve been really struggling on how to describe this game but surprisingly my wife just piped up and said, “It’s like Snood isn’t it?”
“Sure. But with CHARACTER!”
Zuma is a game where you’re an Aztec frog or something and you shoot colored balls, trying to match up 3 or more so they disappear. All the while, the long string of balls continues growing (whether you shoot or not) and if grows TOO big, you’re FINISHED. But if you manage to take out all the balls on the screen, you’re done with the stage. Pretty simple concept I’ll admit, especially since the whole shooting balls things has been around forever and most recently probably in Snood.
But what makes Zuma Deluxe different than Snood is that in addition to just shooting balls for the sake of making them go bye bye, you also try and get powerups to help you out (especially in the later more difficult stages). For example, there’s powerups to make the whole ball and chain go backwards and another to make a bunch of them blow up at once.
And for another thing, Zuma has that cool Aztec theme or whatever going for it. It’s not TOO over the top but it’s cool enough to where you hear the sound effects in your head long after you turn the game off. Add to that varying levels, added difficulty, and the fast reflexes you need to get through this game and you got something special!
AT LEAST Play the Demo
I got onto this game because one of my friends was always playing it so I gave it a whirl. Now YOU know somebody who’s playing it and even though this game didn’t exactly come out yesterday - If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you!
January 29th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Hi Bush - it does look interesting. I think I’ll give it a shot. I don’t get time to play many games, but I know my kids will love this one.
January 29th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
@CatherineL - I really don’t think I did the game justice with this review, but maybe that’s because words can’t describe my obsession. (#):) And BTW, didn’t know you were a gamer!
January 29th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I LOVE Zuma and I loved Snood too. LOL. These are both great games. TGH and I also have been playing Rock Band on his 360 too. But I think his Xbox may need to be serviced soon. He’s been getting the red light of death. Yikes.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
@Teeni - How’s the drumming going? That game is very very hard on the drumming side of things. And sorry to hear about the red ring of death. Hope you got a warranty on it so you’re not stuck waiting for M$ to fix it!
January 29th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Thanks, Bush - we have the warranty, thankfully. Drumming is not easy but I think I’m better at it than TGH so I get to do it in our “band.” I’m so cool. LOL
January 30th, 2008 at 12:03 am
I love Zuma as well! I agree, it’s very addicting.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:37 am
LOL!
I told you I was going to check you out!
My wife and I love ZUMA!
She is the reigning (only) Champ in our house.
I am the reigning Chump in the out house.
I just can’t get into the rhythm of frog-swinging
(don’t worry, the frog never complains).
Now, I can ask the burning question:
Have you EVER noticed the ball changing color JUST as you were about to shoot it?
This happens to me all the time, and I KNOW I didn’t deliberately aim a red ball between two blue balls!!!
My wife insists that I must have hit the right-click button on the mouse, swapping colors.
Please tell me this has happened to you, too???
Cheers,
Mitch
January 30th, 2008 at 11:25 am
@Apexad - I think I’m on level 9. Ugh. I gotta break through these “walls”!
@Mitch - Ha ha, Well on the XBox, I’ve been guilty of sometimes hitting the small right trigger. It’s REALLY small and you can’t even tell when you press it - Until the ball you shoot is a different color. *rolling eyes*
And you gotta tell me what makes your wife the “champ” in this game. (#):D Has she beaten it? If so, that would probably put me into the chump category as well. *nod*
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Bush,
If I knew the answer to that, I’d be champion, too…
She doesn’t go for the gold coins, the chain bonus.
She tells me, “You gotta keep the marbles from wrapping around on you.”
Of course, that’s gauntlet, which nobody wins…
But for the Adventure mode, she just concentrates on clearing the marbles quickly and efficiently.
Easier said than done, eh?
Cheers,
Mitch
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
@Mitch - Hm. Interesting. I haven’t played Gauntlet yet, I’m still trying to finish Adventure. I think I’m on the very last set now so hopefully I can wrap that up now. But I know what your wife is saying.. At this point, I’m seeing Zuma balls when I sleep, and when I play I hardly even think anymore.
…No time for that. *nod*