Pop - WiiWare review

Bubble-O heaven

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Pleasingly colourful visuals

  • +

    Curiously addictive gameplay

  • +

    Refreshingly relaxing for a shooter

Cons

  • -

    Hard on the wrists

  • -

    Simplicity borders on simplistic

  • -

    Can be frustratingly difficult

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On the face of it, Pop is a game about bursting bubbles. Delve a little deeper, however… and you’ll find it’s a game about bursting bubbles. Hmm. But despite this most simple of premises, it’s actually a rather decent, pleasingly colourful and curiously addictive little shooter. And shooter it is. You aim a set of crosshairs at the screen and blast away at wave after wave of different coloured bubbles in search of a high score that can be uploaded to an online leaderboard. The smaller the bubble you shoot, the higher the points value, but it’s by chaining combos together where the big points come in.

Everything is conveyed in a super-chilled out manner – the subtle hues are easy on the eye rather than brash and bright, and there’s a soothing plippety-ploppety backdrop as you burst along on your merry way. In fact, it made us want to take a nice long soak in a bath filled with some exotic-sounding herbal remedy made with forest berries, juniper and sunshine. There’s drop-in, drop-out multiplayer for up to four which, like the online boards, is a nice addition. The constant shooting and waggling of the remote is bit of killer on the wrist and fingers, mind.

We like this. Its beauty is in both its simplicity and its nods to many a shooter archetype from gaming days of old. The relaxing way to shoot things.

Jun 30, 2008

More info

GenreOther Games/Compilations
DescriptionWhile simple, bursting bubbles proves to be relaxing fun in this simple WiiWare shooter.
Platform"Wii"
US censor rating"Everyone"
UK censor rating""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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