Even More Bloons

Ninja Kiwi released Even More Bloons, its third game in the immensely popular Bloons series in March 2008. This new addition to the series promised some new features and a degree of toughness that borders on insanity, and it doesn't disappoint on that front. Where it does disappoint though is in the enjoyment factor. Here are some of the main aspects of the game:

Main Game Play

As promised the, toughness of this version does border on insanity, especially in the latter levels. The word insanity here needs to be emphasized because the number of tries you need to get it right for some of these levels will make you insane, and if you complete it in fewer tries, well then you're insanely lucky.

It is recommended that you start playing More Bloons only after you've played a bit of the original. Well, you will need all the practice that you can get by playing both of those together to attempt this one with any modicum of success. Even More Bloons has bouncy pads and helium balloons to complete its quota of nice innovations that make the game much harder than anything you could have imagined. This is because the helium balloons once released from their glass case fly away out of the screen, requiring you to pop them before they drift away. While earlier you had infinite time to aim for the right spot, now you'll be pushed for time in most levels. As mentioned above, every level from level 15 onwards borders on being insanely tricky, but levels 30 and 33, called "Scooper" and "Diamond Mine" respectively, do a very good job of toeing the impossible line. Levels 18 and 38, however, barely pay the line a cursory glance before strutting over it.

Level 18, named "Tiny Tanks", is maddening because it can be so straightforward on the right day. Unfortunately, the right day is as rare as a blue moon. You need to start by aiming just a little lower than halfway up the second rubber block from the top with a dart with around 60% power. This will then actually hit the rubber block that is 4th from the top and should rebound from there right into the tin box where it hits the balloon and pops all the balloons in there. The next dart goes directly into the open slot in the second box and gets all the balloons there. The point at which you're likely to get stuck are if you hit the first shot into the rubber blocks with even 1% more or less power, which will make you miss the balloon directly behind it and hence miss the threshold. The power needs to be absolutely right, and since the game doesn't give you percentage points to judge your power level from, it's really hard to get it right in the first or even the first 100 tries.

Level 38, aptly titled "Howibble" for the way you will say "Horrible" once you go mad having trying it numerous times, is indeed horribly hard. It is easily the toughest level in the game because of the way it binds precision, timing and luck in one horrible package. You can go about conquering it by first bouncing the first of your two darts into the bouncy pad such that it hits the rightmost 3 or 4 helium balloons and pops them while hitting the ice balloons below. The balloons so released will immediately freeze due to this but will still keep floating up. Next comes the tricky part. Fire the second dart in an upward loop immediately after the balloons start rising such that it hits the third balloon from the right on the right side and bounces, just, into the walled area where it will burst all the balloons. The power and aiming must be perfect. No exceptions. And you must achieve that level of perfection in a matter of three quarters of a second.

Crazy, huh?

Visuals & Sound

Still no changes. A big thumbs-up to the developers for that.

To sum things up

The sheer number of glitches has succeeded in sucking out all the fun that the gameplay brings into Even More Bloons. Every level now is a matter of luck, because with the level of precision required and the number of glitches in the aiming mechanism, the physics, bounce off the walls and everything in between, you can only get that precision due to luck. A percentage points system for power would certainly help matters. All in all, you'll like this game if you love being flummoxed by nature or were just born lucky, but it can be immensely frustrating otherwise.