Zuma: Deluxe may seem a bit pricey but it still delivers alot of thrills that puzzle games really need to have.
The game puts you as a stone frog who shoots out balls in a bust-a-move esque way. The goal of this game is to shoot the colored balls into chains of 3 eliminating them from the area and bringing the chain back. Once you earn a certain number of points by getting rid of balls, earning combos and the like, the game will shout out “ZUMA!” What this does is stop the balls from entering the level and to finish off the stage you’ll just have to get rid of what’s left on the board. Despite the fact the game has really only 3 moves it takes time to be a true master of Zuma. You view the game from a birds eye view above all the action and aim the frog’s mouth where the balls will cause a chain reaction and eliminate as many as possible. There are two types of bonus’ you can receive in Zuma and both can unlock some X360 achievement points. The bonuses are the chain bonus and the gap bonus. A chain bonus means you’re on a streak with each single ball you shoot eliminating colored balls from the level, a gap bonus means you created a whole in the chain of the level and are destroying balls through the chain.
Using both those combo options are crucial to success in Zuma as are the first few minutes. Ball pour into the level really fast as you move on and getting to that Zuma as fast you can is crucial. The first few minutes of a round tend to dictate whether you have success or fail. You fail when the balls begin to enter a gold tokens mouth. The game is able to ramp up the difficulty by having multiple gold skulls on the map and multiple chains entering the mouth of the two tokens. This makes the first moments even more crucial. This makes the challenging but not to the point where is frustratingly difficult. Often after a loss you’ll realize what you could and should have done and be able to correct your mistakes before the next round.
The game has two modes of play to choose from. Neither of which unfortunately is a multiplayer mode of any sort. One mode of play the is the survival mode which is just seeing how long you can last before the number of balls and the like overwhelm you and you lose. The second mode of play is called “gauntlet”. This mode has you going from temple to temple fighting in a variety of sub levels in each temple. Often the later levels of temples will have you shooting against the aforementioned two fronts and seemingly fighting a double attack. To help you in the levels there are several power balls, one has the ability to slowdown the rate which balls enter the level and move around while the other type will blow a number of balls surrounding it. These can cause some especially satisfying mo nets when you just stave off losing the game.
The game has the typical look of an XBL arcade game in the form of rich, colorful balls and some detailed interesting environments. The game has no stand out graphical features but is just there and merely pleasant and nice on the eyes. The audio is not a highlight despite the nice audio on the dialogue of “ZUMA!” the music wears thin rather fast and isn’t especially interesting on any fronts. The game is presented well but lacks a few catchy songs here and there from being much better.
Overall Zuma is a captivating Puzzle game that can be a bit pricey compared to 5$ and free titles like Hexic HD and AstroPop. That said it does a few hard to achieve to keep you coming back and is one of the most interesting games on XBLA. If your into puzzle games and looking for something to kill some time while you save up for a new Xbox 360 game then its definitely worth giving Zuma: Deluxe a go.