Zuma

A quirky puzzle game from the makers of epic time killers like Peggle and Bejeweled,

Zuma is a quirky game where you control a frog idol in an attempt to prevent a string of multicoloured balls from reaching a gold skull at the end of the puzzle. It’s a simple enough premise: Eliminate all the balls by lining up three or more of the same colour before it reaches the centre of the spiral and is swallowed by the skull, but as the game progresses, you’ll see that there’s more to it than meets the eye.

As with most flash games, Zuma has no complicated controls and is easy to get used to.

There are only three functions namely rotating the frog idol, selecting what balls to throw and finally throwing the balls with a click of your mouse. It’s easy for anyone to pick up or play regardless of whether you’ve touched a video game in your life or not. Mastering it, though, is another story altogether.

Zuma while catering to the casual crowd isn’t that forgiving; by level three you’ll find yourself against a game that decides to throw meandering pathways, multiple gold skulls and obstacles preventing your aim. And while it does seem ridiculously easy at first you’ll soon realise that passing a level requires more thought than is obvious.

So if you’re new to gaming or an old hand bored of the usual fare, Zuma is worth a look. Just make sure you’ve cleared out your schedule before doing so because you might find yourself extremely busy traversing unravelling the spirals and many gold skulls of what is arguably one of PopCap’s better titles.