Poppit!, a simple balloon-popping game that happens to be the most popular game on EA's Pogo casual games site, is functionally no different from the other dozen or so Elimimatch clones on mobile--you match groups of like-colored objects to get rid of them. That said, this casual offering's connectivity with the larger Pogo network, which offers raffle drawings and prizes, makes it immediately more compelling than most of the competition.
In Poppit!, a friendly cartoon cactus directs you to work your way through a screenful of brightly colored balloons, by clicking on pairs (or larger groups) of the same color. If you create a space by popping a large group, the remaining balloons will fill the void by floating toward the top of the screen. There's no limit on time or the number of moves you can make, but the game is over as soon as you have no pairs to pop, so you have to pop carefully to make caches of color drift together. The larger the popped group, the more points you get.
There are three levels of difficulty to choose from: The higher the difficulty, the more balloons you have to pop. You complete a game by popping all of the special prize balloons, which look like they're wearing a little pair of sunglasses. Getting all of the balloons is really challenging, but if you can manage to leave only a handful, you'll still win. If you run out of moves before popping the right amount, the cheery cactus will let you undo as many moves as you like or start a new game. After you complete a level, you'll receive a certain number of Pogo tokens based on your performance. The game then connects to the Pogo server to upload the loot, which you can use to purchase raffle tickets online from the Pogo Web site. The daily raffles are good for all sorts of prizes, including cash awards.
Poppit!'s presentation isn't bad on the LG VX6100. The graphics, while not out of the ordinary, are definitely up to snuff for this type of game. The prizes are definitely a nice visual touch. The game's sound effects are quite good, from the balloon-popping sounds to the strange Tex Avery noises that play at the end of a game.
Poppit! is a highly refined take on the Elimimatch genre, and its relationship with Pogo adds a lot of value to the experience. Current Pogo players will certainly want to download it, and those who are in the market for a laid-back mobile game might want to take a look, too.
