Venice Deluxe

Guess what? The end of the week is here, so it's my job to give you another game review. At least for those who play this stuff. This week we have a new entry in our "charts". Brand new from the PopCap labs, "Venice Deluxe" comes to enchant us, or at least to kill our time.

So do I have your attention now? Yes, PopCap Games are those which bring us the "rookie" in the business. The same labs that until now have given us games like Bejeweled, Chuzzle, Zuma, Insaniquarium and Peggle.

Now, moving on to make a long story short, this new game will challenge a player to shoot different stuff like rings, stars, vases, hearts, keys or coins up a building. These will now be thrown at random, but in the exact shapes that are placed on the walls in order to match an open slot with the same shape.

If you're one of those people who want a story to go with the puzzle, do not despair, we have that one too. The reason you have to do the things I just mentioned is that you have to rescue the sinking buildings of Venice by restoring their long lost treasures. So this is what you do... restore treasures, otherwise Venice is going bye-bye.

While you play, you'll see that not all the time will you aim the right place. That is not such a major problem. The object you shoot will come down towards you. But it might also ricochet into other pieces of the wall or puzzle. You must try and catch it, and don't let it fall into water. If the object falls in the water, you'll lose a life.

This is a "twist", not necessary a good one, but do not fear, because other game modes don't have this one. Moving on... you get to the point, let's say after the 15 level, where you have to aim towards slanted surfaces in order to reach hard-to-access areas. And all this along with breaking apart stones to clear a path and shooting the pieces into little passageways. These passageways will aim the object for you.

Even later on in the game there are locks to open. In order to do that, you have to fire the right shape, baskets, chutes etc, etc, etc.

Just as in other puzzle games, in this one you'll have bonus points. These will come when you fill up multiple slots on one shot. If you do that, you get "tumble" bonus points and a power-up you can catch before it hits the water. One of the power-ups is a wild card shot (joker) which will fill any spot, an extra life, combo - clears all the same objects on the screen - and wings that let you fly up right to the spot you've been shooting at and insert the correct object. Another bonus will be your "guardian angel" that'll fly by the wayside, helping you fill slots.

There are also a few bugs that will trouble you at one point. You'll lose a life for no reason when a key will appear into water from nowhere.

But if you can move on and ignore that, all in all this one's not a bad game. The graphics are not bad, just that you'll pretty much want more. If you get to higher levels, you'll be pleased, if not, you'll just abandon the game.

Either way, enjoy!