Bloons Pop 3

Bloons Pop 3 is a game released by developers NinjaKiwi in May 2008. While this game is based on the original Bloons game platform, it is completely different from the original series in that this one consists of arranging Bloons in triplets of identical colors so as to pop them and gain points. Here are some of the key features of this game:

Main Game Play

If you have ever played Bejeweled, you know how this game works. You are required to swap a balloon with another balloon adjacent to it either horizontally or vertically (but not diagonally) such that you can form a triplet of balloons that all have the same color. If you do this, they will pop and then you get a new installment of balloons added to your screen which you will then have to work with. You can only swap balloons in cases where at least one of them will lead to the formation of a triplet. The game ends where you have no such situations left wherein swapping one balloon with another will lead to the popping of a triplet.

Now, if the above sounds boringly straightforward, it is because the entire game is just that. There is no element of that headache-inducing challenge in this game that we've come to associate with Bloons games. In fact, there is no difficulty beyond the standard for any Flash game. The developers just basically took Bejeweled and replaced the jewels with balloons. That is all. It seems like they forgot one very key fact while making this game: if players wanted to play Bejeweled, they would play Bejeweled and not a rip-off with inferior graphics and gameplay.

For the sake of originality, there are some internal features from within the dart-based original Bloons games that are present within this one. While all balloons including the red ones need to be placed in just the one sequence to be popped (now that would have been a Bloons-worthy twist to the game), there are some old favorites like the spiked ball or the mine, which when placed in a sequence and popped falls like the dead weight it is towards the bottom of the screen, popping balloons along the way. You have the lightsaber within certain balloons, which when popped will pop up to 3 balloons on either or both sides, depending on the position of the lightsaber. Then you have the pin balloon, which when popped will further pop up 9 balloons around the previously popped balloon depending on where the initial balloon was popped. And if reading that many "popping" words in one sentence doesn't make you hungry for popcorn, nothing ever will. Lastly you have something that does actually resemble a popcorn pack and will double the points you get when you pop it in a sequence.

This game will quite simply make you wish that the developers would go back to the original Bloons and work on making those instead of wasting time on ventures like these which will not attract many players and will only dilute the quality of the Bloons franchise. While the game does have the potential to be as addictive as the original Bejeweled, the only query that this game will pose when you play it is "What is the point of this?"

Visuals & Sound

Graphics are just as jagged and basic as in the earlier dart-based Bloons games and in fact they seem to be even more rudimentary than earlier Bloons versions. It never gives the appearance of being a well-made game either.

The audio in this game is just as bad and pointless as the game itself. The audio is not catchy or groovy and you are likely to resort to the mute button that has been mercifully provided as soon as the game starts off.

To sum things up

A badly made game which seems to have absolutely nothing going for it would sum up this game nicely. Players are unlikely to warm up to the game, and it doesn't look like it's been born out of a desire to unleash someone's creativity. There is certainly some potential if the developers could incorporate some of the innovations in the original games into this game, but until then this game is a waste of time, and not in a good way.

Pop more things now including balloons and bubbles.