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Balloon Pop (DS)

Status: Stopped playing - Something better came along
I started playing this game on Wednesday 23 September, 2020  //  I stopped playing this game on: Thursday 24 September, 2020
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.

September 24, 2020 05:03:59 PM
Oh look - it's another match-3 type game.

Yes, but no. I mean yes - but there's some nuance here I thought was interesting. The game has three modes, endless (which was boring), vs (which was hard), and puzzle (which was interesting). Playing puzzle is what made me realize there was more to the game - and now I want to go back and look at vs (because I lost quickly and decisively)

So, the three things that are different/unusual (to me):

(a) When you make a swap - the balloons you're "poppping" freeze and a timer appears at the bottom. While the timer is active you can continue to make swaps - hopefully lining up more "pops". However, you can't swap a balloon that's already part of a "pop" (in other words, that will pop when the timer expires).

(b) You can swap with an empty space! I only discovered this because puzzle 11 was "impossible". I literally tried all the possible swaps and none worked - then I tried a swap with an empty space...and BINGO!

(c) There are two additional buttons in the game. One is to "pop" before the timer runs out. The other button is to make the balloons "drop" (bring in another row from the top). So, you can speed up your demise, but also strategically bring in more balloons for a greater combo. Interesting!


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria