Pang

Do you enjoy bursting bubbles in your spare time? Well if so, and you’ve managed to finish off the last of your bubble wrap then Pang is made for you!

Armed with a harpoon gun the aim of the game is to simply pop all the bubbles that bounce around the screen whilst trying to avoid being hit by one. You may expect bursting bubbles is quite an easy task and that you’ll quickly triumph, well actually not in this case. Your hero is located at the bottom of the screen and can only relatively quickly move from side to side to avoid being touched by the bouncing adversaries. To make matters a little worse for you, the harpoon can only shoot one at a time, which makes taking aim, firing and running all the more important to master.

Not only do you have to master these fundamental skills but also get quite crafty in your techniques. The reason being, every time you pop one bubble, two smaller bubbles appear, and again this is repeated with another pair of smaller bubbles, only with one more hit will these orbs finally pop for good!

Fortunately help’s at hand in the form of power-ups. For example one power up allows you to fire two harpoons in quick succession, meaning you have greater chance in bursting the bubbles but also protecting yourself from their relentless bouncy advances. Other power-ups are freeze bubbles, shields, dynamite and laser beams!

As you advance through the levels, you’ll come across more cunning layouts which make the strategy you adopt slightly different from the levels before – keeping the game refreshing and challenging in equal amounts. Some levels will see bubbles contained in a couple of boxes – meaning you can either play it a little safer and unleash one at a time and burst it, alternatively you’ll be able to unleash all bubbles and have a much more frenzied dash to pop them all in time. On other levels you are required to climb on top of blocks to avoid being hit and to give you a better aim at the balloons.

To boost your score you’ll see random pieces of fruit and novel objects fall from the top of the screen. For collecting them you’ll be rewarded with lots of points – which makes it worthwhile risking your life for, but again you can’t let them be for too long or else you’ll fail to gather any points at all.

Ultimately this game is a mixture of strategy, action and puzzle fun which will keep you firmly glued to the screen as you let off some much needed steam. This title’s both therapeutic bubble bursting entertainment and frustratingly addictive at the same time.

Rating 82%

Positives

Fun and frustrating

Classic style game which is easy to get to grips with

20 levels which will keep you enthralled

Lots of power-ups

Controls are pretty sharp

Negatives

Limited addictiveness after you’ve completed all 20 levels

Sounds are pretty poor

Graphics aren’t the greatest