Pile and Pop
Score: 90% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: Bitbliss Developer: Bitbliss Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Strategy/ Family/ Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: Casual games are expected to be easy on the eyes and the music is supposed to be background and varied. Something that won't leap out at you maybe, but won't fray your nerves after the 500th time. Pile & Pop is a great example of the style of game becoming more and more popular these days. The rise of casual games in electronic form is probably nothing surprising to those of us who enjoyed Solitaire (with real cards) or simple board games like Checkers. When you want something to pass the time that will stimulate you just enough to have fun without feeling very challenged, a casual game is in order. The growth of electronic and mobile gaming has brought offline pastimes like Sudoku to every platform. Some electronic games like Tetris never will find a life offline because they are unique to their medium. Pile & Pop is this type of game that combines action and strategy in a unique way on screen. Imagine little oblong pill shapes that rise up from below instead of falling down like Tetris. Colors are the key and you can pile up to five pills of the same color in one turn. When four or more of the same color are touching, all the neighboring pills are popped. There are sound effects (a pop, of course) and music going on in the background and the visuals can be exciting, when you use power-ups like the exploding bomb.
Gameplay: The color matching that is the basis of Pile & Pop may not seem like a formula with longevity, especially for adults. But, playing the game for some time you will find that it is extremely addictive and that simplicity is a virtue. Not having shapes to worry about means you can focus on matching and pulling colors or special blocks to use. There are two ways to play. Arcade is a regular, timed progression with more and more blocks rising up from the bottom. If you delay, you'll find that the screen has quickly filled with blocks. Strategy Mode allows you to take all the time you need planning a move. After the move, you'll see the levels rise as new blocks are added before your next turn. Scores and awards are granted in both modes so you aren't penalized for being in competition with other folks in the household who may enjoy a different style of play. As you progress through levels, you'll find new specials are introduced and you can select these from the sidebar using the mouse. Think of these as "combos." There are also special blocks that will react when dropped or placed against other blocks that you will find scattered in the higher levels. Awards for the most blocks popped are granted if you meet certain requirements like blasting the most blocks at once or popping an entire row of blocks at the same time. There aren't other significant play dynamics, but that is perfect for a game like this where the goal is to keep it simple.
Difficulty: Casual games and especially those with a Tetris-like style have almost no learning curve and a painless ramp up to the point where you realize you're in trouble. By that time, the game is usually over in a few more seconds. It's strange. After lots and lots of Pile & Pop sessions I almost always found myself kicking the bucket at around the same place. I'm sure that with more strategy I could improve, but I'm not even sure that's the point. 60% of the people who will appreciate Pile & Pop are in it for a brief session and don't feel a burning need to engrave their name in the granite altar of Those With Top Scores. For the segment of the casual gaming population that does feel compelled to put up big scores, there is enough challenge here to keep you engaged for quite a while.
Game Mechanics: Keeping it simple means keeping it real where this game is concerned. The performance requirements are going to be standard for almost any PC released within the last 5 years. For Mac, that means at least 500 MHz and version 10.2. For PC, the processor specs are the same and any version back to Windows 98 should be capable of running Pile & Pop. The install was a cinch and upgrades are available from the Bit Bliss web site. A free demo lets you find out whether this is the right game for you and the purchase price of $20 won't put a dent in your wallet. Control with the arrow keys or mouse is fine and the only thing I didn't like was the use of the mouse for combos. Some type of shortcut would have been a better option to let us keep our fingers on the keyboard. A minor ding for a game that plays great and represents why casual games are so popular these days. Any gamer who can't sit down and have fun with this one should have his head checked out. Whether it's blazing new ground with its gameplay is irrelevant. The point is to have fun.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
Minimum System Requirements: Mac OSX 10.2, 500 MHz   Test System: Mac OSX 10.4.7, G5 2.1 GHz
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