AstroPop Review (XB360)

AstroPop, developed by Pop Cap Games and available through XBOX Live Arcade, is a fun, fast-paced puzzle game that is also highly addictive! Choose from 4 different space pilots and maneuver different colored bricks in order to group them together and blast them away. Through each level you must blast away a certain amount of bricks, while the entire wall slowly moves its way down, and if you're not fast enough, it will crush you to pieces resulting in a rather nice explosion.

In each level, a new, special brick is introduced, ranging from lightning bolt bricks that will wipe out an entire row, or even diseased bricks that infect surrounding ones making them unable to move until you destroy ones that surround them. And also my favorite, the radiation brick that blows up all like colors when you blow it up. When you begin, it seems simple enough to play, but it turns out to be quite tricky and gets really intense sometimes. The fast paced music helps in getting your blood pumping and gets those blocks moving.

When things get really hectic, and the warning signals start going off, you can pull out the big guns with your Supa Weapon. Each pilot has a different one and you can only use it when it is fully charged, averaging about once for every level upgrade. And believe me, you'll need them!

Now, even though there are 4 pilots, you can only use two when you begin. You can start with either Vector or Sprocket. Having played both, Vector is a lot easier to get through the levels with and his Supa Weapon is amazing! Sprocket is a real challenge, since her Supa Weapon could be a lot more effective meaning you need some skills. And since you must be at a higher level to unlock her pilot buddy, she's a more challenging game. These two available pilots can unlock the others as you move through the game, which is something nice that you can anticipate and work towards. Since each pilot has a different Supa Weapon, it'd be nice to check out what the other pilots are packing. Also, as you advance in the game, your Supa Weapon becomes more powerful, some even being able to use it 2 or 3 times in one level!

There is also a Survival Mode which lets you just play and blast away bricks with the difficulty increasing as time goes by. You just need to survive as long as you can, hence the name! If you last for a certain amount of minutes, you get achievements, different pilot rankings that tell you just how fantastic you are. And there are also leaderboards so you can see how everyone else who plays the game ranks, which also lets you see that a ranking in the 12,300's is only fantastic in your own living room.

This was a really fun game to play, but it did take me a minute to really get into it. For 800 points, it's not a bad purchase, especially for anyone that's a fan of Bust A Move or Tetris. Definitely give it a try, I don't think many will be disappointed.

Our Final ScoreGood

What did you think of this game? Post Your Own Review