Get busy popping!
A strange but highly addictive mix of Arkanoid and Tetris, AstroPop Deluxe is a delightful little gem which is well worth adding to the collection of any puzzle/arcade fan. It combines fast-paced gameplay with charmingly colorful visuals and clever mechanics to create a proper little treat. The idea here is that you are in control of a cute little spaceship that can shoot and stack bricks. As you play, the screen fills up with bricks so it's your task to pop bricks of matching colors in order to clear the screen and which allows you to continue while racking up the points. If you link up four colors you can create chain reactions to spectacular effect while there are also special powerups to help you out. These include the likes of freeze bombs, radial bombs, nukes, and even obstacles which will hinder your efforts. There are four characters to play as, each of which has their own unique special weapon while there are also two main modes to play through. One allows use of weapons with upgrades, while the other is a survival mode where you must last as long as possible. AstroPop really is a delightful offering in the color matching genre. It's similar in concept to others of its ilk but it's also suitably different to make it feel at least a little bit different. The core idea is easy to pick up but cleverly implemented and there's no denying this is highly addictive stuff. The addition of the weapons and other powerups is a neat one and which help to make this a cracking little puzzler.
