Super Pop and Drop
              Download from www.gamehouse.com

                      Reviewed by Sue

This is a new game from Gamehouse. The unregistered version allows
you to load it 9 times. It looks like a cross between Arkanoid and
Tetris.

As in Arkanoid you fire your popper at an ever-descending wall of
coloured balls. Your popper fires coloured balls too and if they
hit to form 3 or more, they drop away from the wall, like Tetris.
You can see the next three balls in the popper so you can actually
work out some sort of strategy by looking ahead. You can also see
the trajectory of the current ball in the popper so you can bounce
it off one of the walls to get it to go behind some of the balls.

If the set of 3 or more balls you make goes behind some other
colours, those all fall away, giving you a bonus. There are also
special balls such as a buzz saw which scythes its way through to
the top of the screen, destroying all the balls in its path.
There's a spring which sits among the balls in the wall and will
push the screen back a level when it's destroyed. Some black balls
are indestructible but can still be removed when you form a set of
balls by going behind them.  Another popper changes the colour of
balls it touches.

And all the time you're playing, the wall of balls is gradually
dropping down the screen, adding a touch of urgency. If panic 
really sets in, you're given three grenades that you can explode 
to clear a small area of screen. That may give you the breathing
space you need.

There are three difficulty levels (easy, normal, difficult) and
two ways to play. The first is Action Mode, timed for speed. The
second is Perpetual Mode, untimed for strategy. I found this
harder than the first one.

According to how well you progress through the game, you'll be
allowed to start on a higher level. You begin with just four
colours - blue, green, red, white - more are added on higher
levels, orange, purple, pink, dark blue.

Of all the Gamehouse games I've played, this is the most
enjoyable.














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