Pop should not be as fun as it is.
So what about Pop makes the game appealing? It combines a simple concept and adds into the mix a "high-score" mentality that you would see in old arcade games, or a more recent example, Geometry Wars. There are many distinct gameplay twists that makes Pop worthwhile. The first, is the timer system. When you start the game, you have 25 seconds to get down to business. However, as you pop bubbles, time is added (while it is still counting down) to that score. Bigger sized bubbles give you more time, but less points, while smaller bubbles will give you more points, but add less time. It is that contrast that makes the game very strategic when things start to get hairy. Also included in the game is a chain system, which allows you to get a higher score when you pop the same colored bubbles in a row. This comes into play in conjunction with the power-up system and the timer system. Do you want to keep hitting the same colored bubbles? The time is running down and that nuke power-up (that takes out same colored bubbles) would add to your time, but would break up your chain. The game is a constant struggle between trying to get the highest score, and trying to survive.
To add to the challenge, there is an item that will eat away at your clock time: a ubiquitous skull. I haven't been able to determine how much time it actually takes off, but in the later stages, hitting a nuke power-up and then hitting a string of skulls can completely stop you dead. Also, if you do not hit any bubbles when you shoot, it will deduct three seconds from your timer.
The game supports up to four players locally in any of the three modes that it offers (though the modes aren't very different from one another). I have not tested the local multiplayer, so whether it is good or bad, I could not say. Trying to get three other buddies to play Pop locally when there are so many other, better multiplayer games to play is probably going to be a challenge.
The game includes online leaderboards and offline badges that you can earn, but there is no place within the game to find out where you stand, and what the badges stand for. To view the leaderboards, you have to play through a full gameplay session. Was it cut just so it could be released for launch? Seems like an odd omission.
At 700 Wii Points ($7) you might think it is a tad high for the content you're receiving, but it is a game that pays for itself over time. While you're not going to go on Pop marathons anytime soon, it'll be a game that your realize the value of over a period of weeks and months, adding 30-60 minute sessions here and there.