Zuma’s Revenge! arrived in 2009 as PopCap’s follow-up to the 2003 original, and it does not pretend to reinvent the frog.
The tile-matching puzzle game shipped for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, then was ported to Windows Phone, Zeebo, PlayStation 3, iOS, Xbox 360, Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DS. PopCap developed and published it, with Electronic Arts sharing publishing credit. A Nintendo DS version landed in February 2011, adding daily challenges, versus mode and achievements.
Trailer, via PopCap.
A Frog, a Skull Emblem and 60 Levels
The setup is the same one players learned six years earlier. You aim a ball-shooting frog with the mouse and fire stones into a rolling string, clearing three or more of a color when they touch. Gaps open, and if the balls at either end of a gap match, it snaps shut and can set off chain reactions. The string crawls toward a skull emblem. Let it arrive and the stone frog idol gets eaten, costing a life; run out and the game ends.
Zuma’s Revenge! adds more than 60 levels, hidden traps, and six tiki bosses. Power-ups drop at random on individual balls and are collected by destroying them:
- A visual guide showing where a shot will land
- A power-up that slows or reverses the string
- A three-way cannon that blasts through all layers of balls
- A laser that destroys single balls
- A bomb
- A lightning power-up that destroys all balls of a specific color
The strings are pushed by the last ball, so detached balls sit still. That rule is the whole game in one line.
Boss Battles Are the Reason to Play
Where the sequel separates itself is the boss fights. Six tiki bosses break up the rolling-ball routine, and the gags around them give the campaign a personality the first game never had. High-definition graphics, new levels and the expanded power-up set round out the package.
The checkpoint system is a real change. Fall in the original and you could replay stage one of the temple regardless of where you died. Here, a game over sends you back to the start of an area, or to stage six if you fell between stages six and ten. It is a stricter bargain, and it makes the later areas heavier.
Will you succumb to the perilous pitfalls, or can you tame the jungle in this PopCap ball-blasting challenge?
The Similarity Problem
The main criticism is fair: this is Zuma again, with better art and bosses bolted on. The core loop — aim, fire, match, watch the gap — is untouched. Many critics at release flagged the similarity to the previous game as a minor fault.
The DS version’s daily challenges and versus mode are the clearest attempt to answer that. They give the game a reason to stay installed past the campaign.
What the Ports Cost You
The platform spread is wide, and it is not uniform. The physical copy for the Xbox 360 includes two bonus titles: Bejeweled 3 and Feeding Frenzy 2. The DS version carries the extra modes. Windows, Mac, PlayStation 3, iOS and Windows Phone get the game itself.
None of these ports change the puzzle. They change how much game you get for the money.
Taming the Jungle
Zuma’s Revenge! is a confident sequel that plays it safe. Many critics cited the boss battles and gags as the highlights. The similarity to Zuma is the cost of that safety, and it is a real cost.
What matters is that the loop still works. Sixty-plus levels, six bosses and a power-up list that earns its place make this a puzzle game worth the time. It is not a reinvention. It is a sharper version of something that was already good, and for most players that is enough.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
