Zuma Deluxe: use your reflexes to uncover an ancient secret

Review about Zuma Deluxe (by United Developers)

Zuma is the game where use your reflexes to uncover an ancient secret! This has to be one of the best challenging games on the market. This game is a lot of fun to play. The higher levels present a real challenge since the balls come faster and faster.

The hidden temples of the Zuma are filled with traps and secrets. Uncover them without losing a life, by preventing the multicolored balls from touching the Zuma idol.

Zuma Deluxe is like several PC games in that the goal is to eliminate balls by shooting balls of the same color at the chain. For example, with Luxor, the shooter is at the bottom of the screen and your goal is to eliminate all of the balls. It’s very easy to play, hard to master, weirdly addictive. This game is available at Realplayer website for download at the same price.

In Zuma Deluxe, the goal is the same except that the frog shooter is at the *center* of the board and rotates 360 degrees. Chains of various colored balls snake towards an opening. If the balls reach that opening, you lose a life. You get 3 lives per game, but can accrue additional lives if you score 30,000. There are quite a few puzzles within each Level; however, you have to complete ALL the stages in order to reach the next Level.

Random balls will light up during game play and if you eliminate the chain that contains these particular balls, you get special temporary perks. For example, there are balls that will create a laser shot for accuracy, slow down the balls, stop the balls, reverse the balls, or fry all the surrounding balls.

Also, there is a coin that shows up randomly on the outskirts of the maze and if you hit the coin, you get extra points. You also get extra points for shooting chains in the middle of "gaps".

There are triangular mazes, circuitous square mazes, and even mazes with two openings. Perhaps the trickiest, however, are those that snake under one another, making it difficult to track the balls.

You can play two versions: Gauntlet and Adventure. You can choose to make the game full screen or small screen.

But, you have to re-download a game using a universal .exe patch in order to get the game to work. Without it, the game starts with a 60 minute "trial period" that won't allow you to play beyond it. This is a serious glitch that Pop Cap Games needs to deal with, because it affects other games, too (such as Insaniquarium). If you need the patch, un-install Zuma Deluxe and re-install using http://beta.popcap.com/pubfiles/PopCDFix.exe

Product Features

• Eliminate balls by grouping 3 or more so they explode
• Use a quick hand and a sharp eye to keep any balls from reaching the skull
• Practice your aim to make sets as quickly as possible, and avoid the anger of the Frog Gods

Product Details

• Price: $11.99
• ASIN: B0002T751Q
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches ; 5.6 ounces
• Release Date: September 8, 2004

Game Information

• Platform: Windows XP
• Media: CD-ROM

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