Zuma's Revenge

The Short


Pros
- Follow-up to the excellent and addicting Zuma game
- Adds many more levels, a handful of new powerups, and new game modes
- Adventure mode, challenge mode, gauntlet modes, and more make this a robust collection
- Stages have weird boss fights the fit the gameplay style (oddly enough...)
- Graphically superior to its predecessor
- Better learning curve overall, though it does get very difficult by the end
- Makes a fantastic phone/tablet game

Cons
- Core gameplay is identical to Zuma
- Still no actual mini-games aside from the boss battles
- Boss battles can range in difficulty from annoying and difficulty to extremely easy, seemingly at random

Yep. More balls.

The Long

So Zuma was pretty good, it just lacked variety. It also had an insane learning curve that turned some people away. Luckily, PopCap seemed to figure that out, because Zuma's Revenge pretty much fixes every issue I had with Zuma, and in the best way possible. So since this is technically the third review of games using this same gameplay mechanic, I'm going to try and be brief. 

Also, balls.

You know he likes it. 

So Zuma's Revenge is Zuma. You are a still a frog in the center of a long pathway of slowly-moving balls, and your goal is to make three or more balls of the same color match so they EXPLODE. Power-ups are randomly distributed throughout the chain and have to be gotten within a time limit or they fade from existence forever. Bonus points (in the form of fruit instead of coins this time) appear every once in a while in the corners, helping fill up your Zuma meter faster and ending the level. There's a boatload of stages to play with hardly any repeats this time around, which is excellent. So it's still Zuma. What's different?

Probably the best change is the increased variety in stages. Some stages have multiple positions the frog can be in (see top screenshot), requiring you to "hop" between them quickly in order to get the best position to land a shot. These can quickly become frantic attempts to not die as you can only hit part of the chain from either position, requiring lots of movement. The other mix-up in variety is the Luxor inspired stages, where the frog is simple on the bottom of the screen and can go back and forth. It's a good change, incorporating the best bits of the games of this type, and it keeps stuff fresh.

Then you have...boss fights?

The game also inexplicably has boss fights, which...are actually pretty decent. Usually the goal is to get through a chain walling off the guy to smack him with a ball, though some require a bit more tactics (one you have to blow up explosive balls near him to damage him, which is a nice touch). They aren't particularly difficult, to be honest, and though they shoot stuff at you it only serves to disorient; you still die from having the balls reach the end of the stage. I found these diversions a fun thing to look forward to at the end of a section, but not particularly enthralling. So in short: good, but not world-shattering.

There's a handful of new powerups, and they axed all the crappy ones from Zuma

The game looks very good graphically. While this isn't pushing polygons or anything (it runs on my iPhone and my wife's computer, so anything can handle it) it has a very pleasing art style, even more so than the first game. It's got a hefty resolution, vibrant colors and effects, and the stages themselves look really good. I would argue this is PopCap's best looking game by a long shot, with tons of visual flair. It's just a colorful joy to look at, and leaves an impression.

Sound is also excellent, with all dialogue in text (but it's pretty witty). The music is good but unnecessary; I played most of this game on my phone with the sound off and still enjoyed at much as anything else. 

If there's anything frogs like, it's going to the beach to get a tan. 

While this has been a sort of brief review, let me get to the kicker: you should probably buy this game. You should especially buy this game if you own an iPhone or iPad, because that is by far the best version of this game. I had a copy of Zuma on my really old Windows Phone that used a stylus, and it was easily the most played game on it. Zuma's Revenge on iOS is absolutely fantastic, retaining everything from the PC original while having the added benefit of the sublime touch controls. It's extremely fun and an excellent time waster.

There's my plug. Because I really do think this game is awesome.

Plus it has the Zuma voice that goes "ZUUUUUUUUUUMA." 10/10.

Zuma was one of my favorite PopCap games, but Zuma's Revenge blows it out of the water. Again, at $2 on iOS that's a freaking steal, and $10 on PC isn't that bad either. It's easily one of my favorite PopCap games, and shouldn't be missed. If you enjoy your casual games to be secretly hardcore, with your puzzle games having a hefty chunk of action and a lot of difficulty, Zuma's Revenge will surprise and delight you. 

Highly recommended. 

Four out of five stars. 

And this'll be the last review about shooting balls for a while, I swear.