Astropop from PopCap
At A Glance
- Explode the bricks before they build up and crush you under a colorful onslaught.
Astropop™, a single-player arcade game developed by PopCap, combines fast-twitch and puzzle-strategy challenge with a kooky and entertaining cast of characters. Vector, Vixx, Sprocket, and Turbot suit up for some block-popping fun. These four characters add personality and story to the click-and-drop puzzle. Rated E for Everyone, it appeals to all ages, although the puzzle portion may get difficult quickly for anyone too young. Download Astropop to your Xbox 360™ Hard Drive from Xbox Live® Arcade.
Vector's Sector of Sass
In Astropop, you play one of the four characters. Vector and Sprocket are available from the beginning, but you unlock Vixx and Turbot. Each character wears a special power suit that picks up and drops colored bricks. The bricks appear in rows at the top and drop downward toward your ship. Don't pop them fast enough and they reach the bottom—you lose.
Pick a pilot.
Pop the bricks by arranging them so that four or more of the same color are touching alongside each other (catercorner doesn't count). Grab and drop the blocks to arrange them and pick up as many as six bricks at a time in your tractor beam.
The game is dressing up in style. The graphics pop
out of the screen when you open it up on your HDTV.
Sprocket's Pocket of Potency
The grand majority of bricks are colored blue, green, yellow, and red. Special bricks appear among the regularly colored ones as well. These special bricks have different functions intended to either help or hinder your mission. Some of them blow up when you pop them, taking all surrounding bricks along with them, no matter what color they are. Some become "dead," even showing a skull and crossbones. These bricks don't move unless you pop them by bringing other bricks of the appropriate color to them. It takes a sharp mind to stay one step ahead of the spread.
The game offers two modes: Classic and Survival. The storyline is in Classic mode, along with puzzle after puzzle and challenge after challenge. Your mission varies in each phase of the game, and bonus rounds mix things up even more. In Survival mode, just stay alive as long as you can. The more time passes, the faster the wall of bricks approaches. All of the special bricks appear randomly among the others in this mode. It's just you and your bricks, partner.
The game bets you can't go for five whole minutes without succumbing to the advance of the bricks. What do you think?
Vector vaporizes bricks.
Vixx's Mix of Mayhem
With its introduction to Xbox Live Arcade, the game is dressing up in style. The graphics pop out of the screen when you open it up on your HDTV. This game has great visual appeal. Not only do the colors blast out at you, but you also have the animated characters who hang out in the corner of the screen and make faces at you. They're adorable.
PopCap, the game's developer, has built a reputation as the creator of great games that have a broad appeal. Located in Seattle, Washington, they develop games for their own website, for others' websites, and even for in-flight entertainment on planes. Their previous contributions to Xbox Live Arcade include Bejeweled and Zuma Deluxe.
Article by Angel Leigh McCoy
