Review – Zuma Deluxe

While playing Zuma Deluxe, I could not help think of all the countless hours, days (and years) I spent playing Tetris on the Game Boy. Consider yourself in good company when you are compared to the best selling game of all time on the Game Boy (35 milling copies to be exact).

The Setup: Zuma Deluxe, created by PopCap and around since 2004, is set in the ancient temples of, well, Zuma. This action-puzzler offers players some of the best and easiest game mechanics I have ever seen.

The point of the game is to eliminate all of the magical balls before they fill up the entire game board and fall into the golden sacred mouth of the temple. Magical balls are eliminated by connecting three or more of the same color at one time.

Of course, eliminating three at a time is just the beginning. Players will find themselves, connecting three, four and even more after a few run throughs. Also, players can rack up huge combos with special bonuses by shooting through gaps to connect three or more and even bigger bonuses when this leads to connecting three or more again.

Gap bonuses are one of the many surprises!

What’s Hot: Featuring 3D accelerated graphics and effects, the game play is smooth. With great tribalesque tunes, players will find themselves feeling like they are traipsing through the ancient ruins of the Mayan, Incans or Aztecs (oh my!).

What’s Not: The difficulty level of gameplay when you get too confident in your ball aiming skills is a bit challenging. Wow, when the magical balls are zooming around the temples, it is very difficult to get your stone frog idol to have a velvet touch on the aiming.

Final Verdict: With its addictive nature, funky Mesoamerican beats and truly great gameplay, it is easy to recommend Zuma Deluxe as a must have for anyone’s game collection–hardcore and casual. Absolutely worth $20.