Zuma's Revenge is everything a sequel should be. The game still features the same basic formula of the original, but yet has expanded upon it in every single way. You've got more intricately designed levels, more modes, new gameplay mechanics, more powerups, and better-looking visuals. I really have to hand it to PopCap – they certainly know how to deliver a proper sequel.

In Zuma's Revenge you play as a frog, which has washed ashore a mysterious island, where several guardians watch over the island, protecting it from visitors. As you explore the island you'll have to contend with a number of different tracks and boss battles, which will hopefully end with you getting off the island. Zuma's Revenge doesn't really have a story, but that's the general framework that the game is built upon. You hop to a destination on your map, complete the puzzle ball challenge of that level, then move on until you eventually fight a boss and then move on again.

Hopping Frog

As mentioned, you play as a frog that spits randomly colored balls at other balls that are slowly making their way along a track, which eventually leads to your base (if a ball enters your base you lose a life). The track paths come in various shapes and sizes, where sometimes they are long and circling, while others double back on each other so that balls further long the line are obscured by the line in front, and others where two lines are moving at once towards two separate bases. It's your job as the frog to spit the colored balls in a Bust-A-Move sort of gameplay mechanic, where you must make matches of at least three touching balls of the same color in order for them to disappear. After you've made enough matches to fill your Zuma Meter, balls will finally quit coming, and now it's a matter of trying to eliminate them all before one sneaks into your base. Like most casual games, Zuma's Revenge is easy to get into, but yet tough to master. You'll breeze through the early levels wondering where the challenge is, but it's right then that the difficulty changes, the game introduces a few new mechanics, and then suddenly you're hooked and determined to complete the game and become a Zuma's Revenge master.

You'll need help in your quest to complete these levels, however, which is why chains and powerups play such an important role in the game. Chains happen whenever a group of at least three balls pop, which then merges together another group of at least three balls, and so on and so on. Not only does chains eliminate more balls in a hurry, but they raise your Zuma Meter faster, and will slightly pull balls back and push them in reverse a little. As for powerups there are several big time helpers, include powerups that show the accuracy of where your shot ball will go, lightning to eliminate single balls one at a time, hands to slow the line movement down for a short period, an arrow that reverses direction for a few seconds, explosives that takeout chunks of a line at once, and special powerups that remove all of one color in one whack.

What I find myself enjoying most about Zuma's Revenge is how PopCap took the original formula, managed to expand upon it, and yet have the game still retain the feel of the original game. When PopCap adds a new mechanic, it doesn't feel like a complete revolution, but rather the next likely step in the evolution of the series. For instance, in the original game your frog was basically stuck in the center of the board the whole game, but here movement is switched up. Your frog will still spend a good amount of time right in the middle of a board, but now he'll also be stuck in farther corners, making long shots more difficult. The frog is also given actually movement, as certain levels allow you to slide the frog on a horizontal or vertical line, while others make you flip between two lilypads in order to get the best shot possible at a grouping of balls. The new movement levels aren't just a nice break from the standard stationary ones, but are a unique entity and offer up a new challenge that makes you think in subtly different ways.

Another excellent addition to the series is the idea of boss battles, which are incorporated into the game in a remarkable way that still uses the basic formula of the game. The idea is that you deal damage to bosses by spitting balls at them or causing environmental reactions based on objects along the ball line. A few enemies are as easy as making a gap big enough to spit a ball through enough times to destroy an enemy, but others require more thinking, such as first using an explosion to eliminate part of a boss' shield, and then trying to fire a shot between the gap in the forcefield. The boss battles are really clever and each one is refreshing and a welcomed enhanced challenge.

Boss Battle

While the bulk of the game is the Adventure Mode, there is a lot more for players to partake in once that is finished. First up you'll find the Challenge Mode, which features 70 different challenges for you to tackle. You've also got the Iron Frog, which is a gauntlet of challenges you must complete consecutively or else fail. Finally there is the Heroic Frog Mode, which takes the same levels from the Adventure Mode and tweaks them so they're harder than they were before.

Techinically speaking, Zuma's Revenge excels in both the graphics and sound department, easily finding a place among the best casual games out there (most of which come from PopCap's own library, so it isn't surprising another one of their games joins the list for me). While the original Zuma's graphics were rather dull and flat, in Zuma's Revenge they're more polished and alive, ellevating the ball popping gameplay above the norm for the genre. Whether it's the use of powerups making dazzling explosions, the mere animation of balls rolling along, or the subtle blur of the underwater levels and the air bubbles your frog blows, Zuma's Revenge is a great looking game with some very nice subtle animations. The game doesn't have anything in the way of vocal work, but the background music changes up enough to fit the level you're on, and the sound effects are nicely done too.

If you loved the original Zuma you'll be in heaven with Zuma's Revenge. Even if you weren't the biggest fan of the original, however, you'll find a completely new experience when it comes to Zuma's Revenge that just might convert you into the joining the massive amount of fans Zuma already has. Zuma's Revenge is the ideal sequel – it keeps the same basic formula fans love while expanding upon it in every conceivable way. A definite high point for the genre.

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