Aqua Pearls
Score: 80% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: G5 Entertainment Developer: G5 Entertainment Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: Aqua Pearls is a fun Zuma styled iPhone game that offers quite a lot of gameplay time and distracting stints during those long rides to work, or even quick stints waiting for a meeting to start. The game's graphics are pretty much what you would expect from a Zuma game, except with an underwater theme. Here, you are in control of a humanoid water creature positioned at the center of the screen atop a cannon that shoots variously colored balls at the track. The scene's underwater theme is filled not only with a coral-covered sea floor, but there are also several types of fish and sea life that will swim across the screen on occasion. Aqua Pearls' music is pretty basic and about what you would expect out of most casual puzzle games. It's enjoyable to listen to, but you don't really feel like you are losing anything when you turn it down or off when you are in more quiet surroundings or would rather listen to your own music. When you do have the sound turned up, the game's sound effects actually lend a lot to the overall feel of the game. In order to reinforce the underwater style, sound effects typically consist of various aquatic noises, and the most prominent of these is the bubble popping sound that happens when you line up three or more same-colored balls.
Gameplay: For those that have never played Zuma or similar games, Aqua Pearls has you trying to clear a line of colored balls that slowly march their way down a winding path. If the lead ball makes it to the end of that path, the level ends and you have to try it over again. You pop balls by shooting more balls from your cannon into the line. When you connect three like-colored balls, they disappear, and if the balls at both ends of the new gap are the same color, the head of the line rolls back to meet the rest of the chain. Aqua Pearls offers four gameplay modes: Puzzle, Adventure, Strategy and Endless. Adventure is where the bulk of the game is and has you traveling across a map of 40 levels, and a boss at every 10. In the case of Aqua Pearls, boss levels consist of some sea creature that likes to mess with you or your line. For instance, the first boss is a crab that adds balls to your line as he wanders around the board - very annoying. Puzzle Mode has you trying to clear the level in a limited number of moves. As an added twist, you can gain more moves by clearing balls with stars in them. This mode requires a very different mindset from the standard mode since you have to be very conservative about your shots. Strategy Mode also requires a different way of thinking. Here, there is no end to the line of balls marching down the line, and instead of trying to clear as many as possible, your goal is to pop the balls sitting under fish positioned over the line in various spots. When you do, those fish swim away, and when all are gone, you can move on to the next challenge. The last mode, Endless, is exactly what you would expect - its standard gameplay, but in one giant level without an end. It's basically this game's survival mode.
Difficulty: The different gameplay modes of Aqua Pearls start off fairly simple, but it isn't long before each one grows in difficulty in their own ways. Adventure simply offers more and more complex paths and longer lines of balls to destroy, while Strategy's doling out of starred balls seems to get slower and slower as the levels progress and Puzzle Mode puts the target fish in harder to get to areas where you have to clear a few lines of balls in order to get to the back rows where the fish are sitting. It does feel like Aqua Pearls ramps up the difficulty rather fast, no matter which mode you are in. While the first few levels really give you a feel for the mode, it isn't long before the game is throwing some really complex path-patterns at you and making you seriously work for your level advancement. This isn't a bad thing, the difficulty curve is just a bit steeper than I would have liked.
Game Mechanics: Aqua Pearls offers quite a few pickups that can do everything from give you a missile that will blow through multiple lines of balls, to balls that pause or even rewind the line in order to buy you some more time. Of course, the best power up is one that has a radiation symbol on it, and when used, it takes out a large section of your line. Adventure Mode also throws starred balls into the line. If you manage to clear out one of these, you can use it between levels to upgrade the effectiveness of your other power ups. Aqua Pearls is everything you would expect from a Zuma clone. If you are a fan of puzzle games, especially ones of this style, then you definitely need to download and play this game. You won't be disappointed.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Related Links: Aqua Pearls on iTunes
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