241 Poppin' Panda and SudoPix

If you enjoy playing puzzles then you should definitely love this double pack containing Poppin’ Panda and SudoPix.

Poppin’ Panda is a clone of the Zuma style where you must burst all the bubbles before they get to the hole. You’re tasked with firing coloured balls into the path of a winding chain of balls to make a row of three or more balls of the same colour. By doing this, you’ll pop all the corresponding balls and score points. Eventually, after bursting all the balls you can, you’ll clear the level and progress to the next round.

Although this game is a pretty shameless copy of Zuma, there has been some effort made to make this title hold its own. This has been mainly achieved by the introduction of barriers and walls where you can bounce the balls off, chutes to help you deliver the ball to its desired location and multiple shooting points.

There are a few other nice things that have been introduced to the game to boost its longevity. For example, you have various power-ups for you to use to your advantage. Your panda can harness the elements of wind, water, fire, darkness and earth. Wind can be used to blow the advancing balls backwards, water will wash away some balls, fire will blast away balls you aim at, earth will smash the chosen balls away and the darkness will destroy a few connected balls in a single shot – so be sure not to miss!

SudoPix on the other hand is a sudoku puzzle which rather than having to work out the numbers, you must try and figure out the combination of coloured squares to outline a picture. These images range from easy shapes like a ball to a rather more challenging image of a rocket or animal.

Using the keypad or d-pad you must move the cursor around the grid and select the square to then either mark (to help your working out) or actually fill the square in. If you guess the square correctly, you’ll see it be coloured in, if you guessed badly however, the box will fill with a cross and your time will be reduced and a life will be lost. For incorrectly guessing a number of times, you’ll lose the game and will be forced to try again to do better the next time.

This package offers a number of hours worth of totally enjoyable entertainment. Being able to switch between either game offers you the freedom to either challenge your reactions and timing in Poppin’ Panda, or your logic puzzle solving skills by SudoPix.

To be honest, there’s very little on the downside to report. The pictures in SudoPix are a little pixelated and difficult to figure out at times, but hey, that’s all part of the fun and challenge! As for Poppin’ Panda, the game’s a little tired after the amount of remakes of a classic game, but the introduction of the multiple angles to fire from and the power-ups do give it a new sparkle which others have failed to do.

Rating 91%

Positives

Two equally enjoyable games that challenge you in different ways

Highly addictive and entertaining

Good graphics

Negatives

Poppin’ Panda’s a little repetitive but there are some nice mini-games to keep it fresh

Sound effects aren’t brilliant