Pinoy-made Critter Pop! blends physics, bubble shooters, and Tetris

Unlibox, the Pinoy studio behind “Heroes Above” and “Evergrow,” has just launched a new mobile game called “Critter Pop!”

“Critter Pop!” is a puzzle game that should be familiar to anyone who’s ever played bubble-shooting games such as “Bubble Witch 2 Saga,” and the legendary tile-matching game “Tetris.”

Like the former, your task is to pop bubbles by grouping those of the same color together. Unlike “Bubble Witch 2 Saga,” you aren’t in control of when these bubbles are released; a set of three bubbles, arranged in a line, spawn every few seconds, then automatically float upwards towards an enclosure. This way, it’s more like “Tetris.” Also like “Tetris,” you can rotate the line, allowing you to control the positioning of your bubbles.

Unlike “Tetris” and “Bubble Witch 2 Saga,” “Critter Pop!” incorporates physics. The bubbles will squeeze into tight spaces, roll off each other, and bounce. This makes the game more interesting and challenging, as you’ll have a few extra things to consider when positioning your bubbles.

The controls are easy. Drag young finger down on the screen to rotate the line clockwise, up for counterclockwise. Dragging left or right moves the line laterally.

A double tap causes the line to float upwards quickly. This should be used with caution; if you have no matching colors, the resulting collision can cause the bubbles to bounce wildly around their enclosure.

To burst bubbles, at least 4 of the same color have to be in contact with one another. When it happens, the bubbles explode with an extremely satisfying pop! It never gets old. And the more bubbles you pop, the more gratifying it is.

If you run out space in the enclosure, you lose. If the timer reaches zero, you lose.

Thankfully, randomly spawning Special Bubbles can turn the tide in your favor. The Time Bubble, when popped, gives you additional seconds. The Prism Bubble can be matched with any color. The third item, Void Bubble, is extremely powerful as it bursts all the bubbles of the same color within the enclosure.

When its gameplay is combined with a zesty soundtrack, adorable critters, cute creature noises, and vibrant graphics, “Critter Pop!” is quite the entertaining diversion.

“Critter Pop!” isn’t without issues, however.

Compared to the bubbles in other bubble shooters, the bubbles in “Critter Pop!” are somewhat large, so it doesn’t take long for the enclosure to fill up. In time, you’ll find yourself with little space to move your line of bubbles around – which means the game can get quite difficult, fast.

The bubbles’ horizontal and rotational movements are also slow-ish, while they float upwards rather quickly. This isn’t a problem early in the game, when the enclosure is mostly empty. But the more crowded it becomes, the less time (and space) you’ll have to move your bubbles to a desired location. Perhaps it would have been better if you could control the speed of the horizontal movement by altering the speed of your finger-dragging.

The game could also benefit from a few game modes.

All that aside, “Critter Pop!” is a promising, fun little title. It’s not perfect, but it possess the addictive quality of most mobile games, so you’ll likely come back to it time and again.

“Critter Pop!” is available for Android and iOS devices. — TJD, GMA News