Yahoo Poppit! Review

Poppit! Classic

Poppit! Classic is the classic, original version of the puzzle game. You start with a screen of balloons and, by clicking on a group of two or more balloons of the same color, pop them. Some balloons hold prizes inside, and the goal of each level is to free all of the prizes. If you do, you continue to the next level. If you don’t, you have to start over. The second goal of each level is to clear all of the balloons off the board, which earns you a nice bonus. Players also get bonus points for popping large groups of balloons. If you get stuck, an undo button allows you to undo moves.

Classic Options

Players can set the number of colors (from three to six), change the volume or turn off music and sound effects, and pick which set of prizes they want to see fall from the balloons (there are four sets: dolls, food, high-price items, and musical instruments).

Poppit! Puzzle

Puzzle Mode’s goal is different from Classic Mode. In Puzzle Mode, players are given a task, such as "clear all the balloons" or "drop prizes on targets". The game keeps track of how many moves it takes you to clear a puzzle, and gives you a specific number of moves to beat as well. Many of the puzzles are locked until you clear the first group of puzzles, and some are locked until you purchase the full version of Poppit! After beating each puzzle, you get to see a special drawing of one of the cacti in an amusing pose (like the Siamese twin cacti and the Matador Cactus).

Puzzle Options

The only options for Puzzle Mode are to change the volume of the music and change the graphics mode.

Poppit! Arcade

Arcade Mode is the fast-paced mode of Poppit! You start with a set number of rows of balloons, but more appear at the top as the game goes on. Your goal here is to fill up the bar at the top of the screen by popping balloons. Each time the bar is filled, a special star balloon appears on the board. Once you pop two or more star balloons, the level ends. The goal is to pop large groups of star balloons, thus earning more bonus points. The game is over if any of column of balloons touches the bottom of the screen.

Arcade Options

Arcade mode options include the ability to change the volume of the music and sound effects, change the graphics mode, and change the difficulty. There are three different difficulty levels.

Gameplay

Poppit! has solid controls and is easy to pick up. Players control everything with the mouse, so there’s no keyboard commands to remember. The graphics are good--above average, in fact, for a Yahoo game. The illustrations, especially the fun cacti pictures in Arcade mode, are brightly colored and well drawn. The sound effects and music, likewise, are fun and fit the game.

The Bottom Line

If Yahoo Poppit! was available for online play, it would be perfect. As it is, the fact that you have to download it can be a bit annoying, but for players who enjoy the game, that won’t matter. While some of the content is locked until you purchase the full version, there’s enough of each of the three game modes available in the free trial version to make it worth your time to download.