Zuma (computer game) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Zuma is a fast-paced puzzle game developed by PopCap Games

PopCap Games

PopCap Games is an American video game developer and publisher, based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka, and currently employs about 400 people...

. It can be played for free online at several Web sites, and can be purchased for a number of platforms, including PDAs

Personal digital assistant

A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...

, mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

s, and the iPod

IPod

iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...

. An enhanced version, called Zuma Deluxe, is available for purchase in Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

and Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

versions and as an Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...

download for the Xbox 360

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

and a PlayStation Network download for the PlayStation 3

PlayStation 3

The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

.

Zuma received the 2004 "Game of the Year" award from RealArcade.

The sequel, Zuma's Revenge!
Zuma's Revenge!
Zuma's Revenge! is a puzzle video game developed and published by PopCap Games. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X on September 15, 2009...

was launched on 15 September 2009 for Windows and Mac. Zuma Blitz went live on Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

on 14 December 2010, and was described by PopCap as "the social adaptation" providing players with "the first competitive and cooperative iteration of Zuma in the game's history."

Gameplay

The game is set in Aztec Mexico.The objective of Zuma is to eliminate all of the balls rolling around the screen along a given path, with other balls (the path is clearly visible in all of the levels except the last level), before these balls reach the yellow skull structure, which will open to varying degrees as a warning of oncoming balls. The player can carry two balls at a time and can switch at any time. As soon as one ball reaches the skull, the rest follow and the player loses a life. To prevent the balls reaching the Skull, the player can eliminate the balls by firing a colored ball from the stone frog idol's mouth towards the chain of balls that will continue to push forward until the player fills the yellow bar, which is when the balls will stop producing off-screen. When three or more of the same color come in contact, they explode, possibly triggering other explosions as part of a chain reaction. The level is completed when after the bar is filled, the player eliminates all of the balls on the screen.

There are bonuses for collecting coins (usually through gaps), for causing explosions through gaps of other balls, and for having a streak of always causing an explosion with each consecutive ball (coins and chain bonuses are a quick way to fill the bar). Time bonuses are also awarded if a player completes the level within ace time - ranging from thirty seconds to four minutes depending on the level.

Four different types of power-ups show up in balls, which can be activated by exploding the ball with the power-up. The backwards ball pushes the furthest-out chain (depending on if all of the balls are connected) backwards for a short length of time. The slow-down ball slows the speed of the chain of balls for a short length of time. The accuracy ball allows quicker shots and points an arrow at where the ball will be shot (this stays active for about the same amount of time as the slow-down ball; however, size of balls must be considered). The explosion ball explodes all of the balls within a small radius of the ball at the spot and time of its explosion. If not exploded quickly, power-up balls will return to their regular state after some time.

Adventure mode

Each regular adventure begins with three lives (represented by frogs in the upper-left hand corner of the screen), but extra lives are earned with every 50,000 points. Shooting a coin with a ball, making multiple groups of balls explode with a single shot, shooting through gaps in the balls, or finishing a level within a certain period of time (called ace time) will give extra points.

The levels are organized into temples, and the level patterns of the first six levels of each stage will repeat after three "stages" of five levels each (the fifth level in each stage is unique in having two tracks of balls instead of the usual one). Stages 1–3 have 4 colors of balls: red, green, blue, and yellow, Stages 4–6 add purple, and from level 7 on, white is also a color of the balls. Levels are eventually added to stages: Each of stages 4–6 have 6 levels, and each of stages 7–12 have 7 levels. Stages 10–12 are essentially the same as 7-9, but they take longer, come out further at the start of the level, and the chain of balls moves along slightly faster. If the player loses all of their lives, the game ends, and they must start again at the beginning of the last stage they advanced up. However, if the player is able to beat all twelve stages, they are taken to the "Space" level, which is longer than all previous levels, has less color-grouping amongst the balls, and has no visible path for the balls to follow. This level cannot be accessed without first completing stage 12. Upon beating this level, the player wins the game (If a player fails to beat the Space level, they must beat all of stage 12 again before getting another chance to win). All remaining lives at the end of a game are each worth 50,000 additional points to add on to the final score.

Gauntlet mode

Zuma also offers gauntlet mode, where the player must return to a level they have already reached in adventure mode, and either practice to beat the level, or play in "endless" mode, where the difficulty in colors and speed of balls will gradually increase. The level classifications of endless mode, in order, are Rabbit, Eagle, Jaguar, and Sun God. The first three when in endless mode will need to fill the yellow bar seven times (which is comparable for all of these levels to the quickness of filling the bar in the early levels of Adventure mode), and then if a player can survive the extra-fast speed of the Sun God levels, the game can continue for unlimited Sun God rounds of filling the yellow bar.

Levels

The game includes 22 levels. The levels are divided into three sets, which each has 7 levels. The player starts out with 5 levels in the first temple of Adventure Mode and one is added for new levels. The 22nd level, "Space" is the last level and the player is required to beat the Temple 12 before accessing :

First set

Spiral of Doom
Osprey Talon
Riverbed Mosaic
Breath of Ehecatl
Dark Vortex (two rows)
Switchback (second temple)
Long Range (third temple)

Second set

When Spirals Attack
Mudslide
Rorschach
Mouth of Centeotl
Snake Pit (two rows)
Sand Garden (second temple)
Lair of the Mud Snake (third temple)

Third set

Landing Pad
Altar of Tlaloc
Codex of Mixtec
Shrine of Quetzalqoatl
Mirror Serpent (two rows)
Sun Stone (second temple)
Zumaic Exodus (third temple)

Plagiarism controversy

The Japanese developer Mitchell Corporation

Mitchell Corporation

Mitchell Corporation is a Japanese video game developer based in the Suginami ward of Tokyo. Roy Ozaki serves as president, and Koichi Niida serves as vice-president. The company was originally established on February 1, 1960 as an import/export business by the father of Roy Ozaki...

claims Zuma infringes on the intellectual property of their 1998 arcade game, Puzz Loop
Puzz Loop
Puzz Loop is a 1998 arcade puzzle game developed by Mitchell Corporation. It was later ported to the Game Boy Color, Neo Geo Pocket Color, PlayStation and Samsung Nuon DVD players under the name Ballistic. The original Puzz Loop game was also known by this title...

which was released as Ballistic outside Japan. Mitchell re-released the design in 2006 as the Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

game Magnetica
Magnetica
Magnetica is a puzzle game for the Nintendo DS, released as part of the Touch! Generations series. The game was developed by Mitchell Corporation and published by Nintendo, and is based on Mitchell's 1998 arcade game Puzz Loop.The game was first revealed at Nintendo Japan's 2006 Conference...

. PopCap asserted that Zuma was "not an exact clone", with founder Jason Kapalka saying that he was "happy" with the idea of games being cloned by other developers, so long as the new version added to the gameplay of the game it had copied.