Giveaway of the Day - Aqua Pearls

Introduction

Today’s giveaway received a positive 83% of 221 votes the last time it was given away and also had 79 comments which you can read by following the link below:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/aqua-pearls/

In particular see comments #48 by Swan, #52 & 54 by Game Seeker, #69 & 70 by Brandy and comment #77 Bonnie

The Game

The game installs perfectly, and plays like a dream. My daughter loves these games, this particular one is perfect for her as it has a pleasant underwater theme with a likable character and playing on easy it’s not too fast for her to cope. There are two other difficulty settings Medium and Hard. Changing the difficulty settings controls the speed at which the string of pearls travels along a predetermined path. My children couldn’t cope with anything other than easy.

Apart from requiring the keyboard to set up your profile at the beginning of the game It’s fully mouse controlled. From the options menu you can change the pearls skin from a solid to a semi translucent skin which reminds me of sweets for some inexplicable reason. You can also choose to play the game in windowed mode. There are four different modes, Puzzle, adventure, strategy and endless; though I couldn’t see much difference between the four. You can check what each mode entails from the help menu. (you can see these by following the link to the screen captures) You can also adjust the sound and music volume. The intro music is almost classical in form, and very pleasant to listen to. The playing music is okay, but after a while I found it a little monotonous. Nice game for children and adults alike.

To help you win levels you get 11 different power ups ranging from score multipliers to bombs and other bonuses that affect the movement of the string of pearls as well as some more unusual ones such as the earthquake bonus. You can see all the different bonuses on pages 5 & 6 of the help menu or by following the link to the in game screen captures I’ve posted to my photobucket account. As you progress through the levels you collect stars which can be used to upgrade your bonuses to make them more powerful.

Images – All on one page

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Aqua%20Pearls/

Images – As a slideshow

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Aqua%20Pearls/?albumview=slideshow

Googled

http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Aqua+pearls&btnG=Search+Images

Conclusion

This is a straightforward Zuma clone that is ideal for the family as there’s enough difference between the difficulty settings to make it a challenge for the kids and adults alike. It also got the added bonus of being able to upgrade power ups through the stars that are collected. This is always a welcome attribute in a game (IMO) and in my opinion adds to the games enjoyment. There’s plenty of re-playability in this game. If you don’t have too many clones of this game or if you are a family I would recommend this game as a keeper and in my estimation is worth a reasonable 7 out of 10. I have all of the Luxor games (4) as well as Atlantis Sky Patrol, and several others but would still keep this one because it’s well made and playable; besides I’m a sucker for remakes of the original so long as it’s not exactly the same.

Notes and unrelated stuff

Here’s a free Zuma clone called Azteca which is actually the commercial game Inca ball; and is another decent Zuma clone worth having. As always with Gametop games I must warn you that you do get your browser opened, but nothing untoward is downloaded to your computer, and closing the browser down is simple, with no come back once it’s closed.

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/azteca-download/

There’s another Zuma clone from the same distributor as Azteca is called Aqua Pop and can be downloaded from the following link:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/aqua-pop-download/

Yesterdays strange comment

I’d like to thank those who showed support after a particular community member posted an attack directed against my character for no apparent reason. I’d considered replying to the post, but decided just to let it go