Who doesn't like popping stuff? Come on, seriously, every time you come across a piece of bubble wrap, soap bubbles in the sink, or a bunch of balloons held aloft by a happy little kid in the park, you just can't resist the urge. See bubble, must pop. Popopopop (or Popopop 2 as my right pinky will insist on typing it) plays on this instinct of ours just like the original Popopop and the Bloons series does. Only now instead of rampant popping, you have to do things with a little bit of strategy. And cannons. Strategy and cannons. And needles!
Each level is filled with colored bubbles spread across a grid. To the left you'll see an inventory bar with a few bubbles you can place anywhere you like. Stick one on the screen and suddenly bubbles pop like dominos, exploding in all directions from where you placed your circle. The goal is to create chain reactions that clear the screen of all bubbles.
Popopop 2 doesn't stop there. Some orbs come with special abilities, such as single-directional popping which forces you to consider the direction bubbles will disappear. There are also power-up-style orbs that let you fire cannons, shoot bolts of lightning, poke things with a needle, and more. Oh, and don't forget the skull and crossbone bubbles. They're mean.
It starts out as a pure popping experience, but just like its predecessor, Popopop 2 reveals itself to be a trial and error game of strategy and timing. And failure. Did I mention that? Because failure is part of the experience. It isn't disheartening at all, of course, but carving your way through a mass of colored orbs only to find you misplaced a bubble ten moves ago makes you pause and strategize before slapping those things on the grid.
And now for the creative part: custom levels. Right from the title screen, Popopop 2 offers an editor that allows you to create your own bubble-popping puzzles. It's as easy to use as you would think, and once you create a workable stage, you can save it for others to play. There are lots of custom levels already available, and some of them are murderously difficult.
Popopop 2 is a game you'll love. Then you'll scream at it. Then you'll probably get mad once more before you realize you're having loads of fun. Then you'll realize half an hour has gone by and you should have started dinner already. Then you'll lean forward to get out of your chair, only to sit back down and play just one more level. The bubble-popping playground now owns you.
Soo... I'm a little confused. The original is titled Popopop, and the sequel Popopopop (i.e. an extra "po"), or alternatively Popopop 2?
Kay. Just checking. Pop!
I'm stuck on lvl 27, "simple". I feel like I've tried almost every spot at every color timing, but it just doesnt work. Hoping for the power of the post to help me :)
yup, power of the post
Muttroid: It's called Popopop 2 in the URL, but the title screen says Popopopop. So, yeah, both. :-)
You should take a look at the linked game page with no-script turned on. There's a huge block of hidden links to 9 different drugs in at least four languages. It's remarkably sketchy.
[Edit: Sketchy indeed. Those links are probably harmless, but just to be on the safe side, I've just hosted the game here at JIG and changed the links in the review to point to our hosted version. Thanks for pointing it out. -Jay]
There seems to be a bug at lelev 38.
I manage to pop the pin balloon, but I don't get a pin.
Hmm. Enjoying it overall, but a couple things:
1. It doesn't seem to save progress. Is that a side effect of hosting it here, or a design issue?
2. How exactly do pins work? Is it timing or movement that makes them go away?
I'm stuck on lvl 13, I think it is -- Spice of Life. Having a little trouble with aiming the lightning.
@LS
Game acutually does save progress, there is probably a problem with your browser.
Pins work for a couple of seconds, no matter how much you move them.
As for lvl 13, it's possible to finish it just by using pins, if you are fast enough.
I enjoyed the puzzle aspect, but greatly disliked the more reflex and accuracy-based parts of the game. The lightning bolt powerup is fun, but the levels based on using it over and over felt like an obnoxious minigame in the way of playing the real thing(I stopped playing at level 26, where the screen was half covered in lightning bubbles and cannons). The icepick (?) powerup is timed instead of only popping a certain number of bubbles. But then, if you move your mouse too fast, it'll skip over bubbles. Highly annoying.
Overall, not bad. But not one I'll return to.
Saving worked just fine for me.
Fun. I remember playing this not too long ago. I think it was the first one.
Stuck on level 23... There's only one place to put the balloon, and I get a pin, but I still lose... Meh.
Power of posting, I guess. I did just what they said in the walkthrough, but it didn't work until after I posted.
@Toni
Hmm, thanks. FF3 on WinXP, don't usually have trouble with games, but maybe something's getting in the way.
As for pins, no way I'm gonna be fast enough; this poor computer is getting elderly and from my POV the pins last all of about 1 second.
Nice sequel, but it'd be more fun if the Flash performed better on OS X. It lags significantly when more than a handful of bubbles are popping at once (and I'm running on a MacBook Pro…)
I do agree that the pins are annoying. They seem to stop working if you move out of the game area.
In Tunnel of Death, it keeps failing me when I go out of the box to avoid the stupid death balloons.
I found that too frustrating to continue with. It's a fun game, but I prefer puzzle-solving to reflex.
@ Sam
I'm running OS X on a MacBook and I've experienced no lag...Could it be your internet connection or something else?
I am stuck on Level 38 too. I even looked in the walkthrough to make sure it was right. And no pin appears when I shoot it right dead center. I hope the designer reads this and fixes it, or gives us a hint on why even when we read the directions we fail on this level????
i'm stuck on level 40, help!!!
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