Thanks for visiting Palm Discovery

I had the opportunity to beta test the program, being one of the lucky ones who was chosen to play, er, beta test the program. This was quite interesting as I was able to involve my son in doing the beta testing, having him, playing on my old Zire 71 and myself, playing on the Treo 650. Of course, he had no idea of what beta testing is all about and I doubted that he cared.

The appeal of this game is its simplicity. It doesn’t take much to figure out how to play the game. I think Howard Tomlinson got a great, simple idea of making a game that appeals to the very young as well as the very old. The object is to simply use the stylus and tap on the objects on the screen, to “pop” them out. Objects vary amongst balloons, stars, balls, coins, snowflakes, candies, fruits, flowers, bubbles. And if you’re one of those people (I’m included) who loved popping all those bubbles in the bubble wrap, you’ll love this game.

Each game screen starts with the floating of the objects on the screen to “pop” out. Every time you pop an object successfully, there will be a visual effect of the object popping, glowing and then disappearing. The value of the points will be displayed. There are lots of other effects that occur on the screen. The objects can rotate and float or bounce, adding to visual effects that I find stunning.

At the top, there is a row of three hollow yellow stars. These stars will get filled in to become solid yellow stars as more objects get “popped” and you get more points. Once all three stars are filled in and become a solid color, there will be the “Bonus” round once the current object popping stage ends. Some objects will immediately disappear when popped while others will create smaller objects that will be released once popped. Some objects will float in and out of the screen, while other objects will bounce around the screen.

The Bonus round is pretty much a screen where you can get more points. The objects will either fall from the top of the screen, or come up from the bottom and the objective again is to “pop” as many of them out. There is a timer displayed at the top right. Once the time runs out, the Bonus round ends and you will either go to the next stage or planet, or, if it’s the end, it will either “unlock” a character or display your score.

Here are some screenshots of the Menu options in the game

The game is very straightforward and doesn’t require much to learn how to play. During our beta testing period, both my son and I were playing (at the time, we were playing the locked demo version). The objects were limited to stars, balloons and balls. I was quite amazed at the graphics of the games (and I really shouldn’t be since Astraware always makes great looking graphics games) and the music and sound effects were so awesome. I loved how each object has a different popping sound. So, when you’re popping a balloon, it will sound quite different from the popping of a star and again, for the ball. And for some screens, there may be an “extra” object available that you can tap for a special animation. In the hearts screen, there’s a set of lips. If you tap on it, it will smooch and make a smooching sound. Very cute. In the flowers screen, there’s a scarecrow that will stand up temporarily if you tap on him. These really make the game fun.

My son was so excited to “beat” my high score that he kept playing it. Originally I was playing a few games on the Zire 71 and of course, I was up there in the high scores. So, of course, he then starts playing frantically to bump me off. (Smile). “Yeeha! I’ve beat you”, he would say to me when he bumps one of my scores off the list. Kids are so funny that way. And my son loves to compete with me, like most kids.

Once I got the game registered on both the Zire 71 and Treo 650, I was surprised at all the other objects available for popping! The bubble popping sound was great! The first time my son was popping the candies, I was shocked at the crunching sound that was coming out of the Palm. It sounded so cool!

Some of the things I remember my son making when playing it include “Woohoo!”, “Another high score”, “cool”. He was quite absorbed in the game. Actually I was getting a bit worried that he would tap too hard on the screen to pop the objects. So, if you’re planning on letting your child play the game, to invest in a good thick screen protector. You can make your own. Go to your local fabric store or the fabric department of Wal-mart and buy a small piece of the thick, clingy plastic table coverings. It’s great and it’s cheap.

One other suggestion for the game would be to set some kind of software protection on the game that will prevent a child from accidentally exiting out of it and mistakenly do something you don’t want with the other programs and data on your Palm. So, something like a “press” this button or do this within a few seconds can unlock and exit out of the game. That way, you can be assured that your child will only be playing that game and not possibly do damage to other things.

Aside from that, I really think this is a great game that appeals to people of all ages. It’s great for the little ones so that they will be able to focus on something, and stimulate coordination, hearing, learning, and sight. And even for the older players, it could also aid in coordination and thinking. As well, this is a great game for stress relief. There’s no need to think or strategize but just quick playing and not worrying about losing the game or anything. It’s a great way to “not” think and just enjoy doing something that is fun to unwind. This is a great game. I’d strongly recommend it for all ages, well, maybe let junior be at least old enought to hold the Palm.

Video review of Star Pop

Star Pop video review on YouTube

Here’s a video of a typical Star Pop game from beginning to end, to show the different stages, effects, sounds and how it ends. The length of the video is about 7 minutes.

Check out StarPop at Astraware or Clickgamer today!

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Astraware and Clickgamer and purchases made with the affiliate links in this post and throughout the site will help keep Palm Discovery.net running as well as paying for future giveaways offered from time to time. Thanks to your generosity, $20 was donated to Plan Canada (formerly Foster Parents Plan International) in 2006 and $85 was donated in 2007.

Thanks for visiting and supporting Palm Discovery. If you are not reading this article from Palmdiscovery.com or Palmdiscovery.net, the website you are reading it from is guilty of copying and posting my content without consent. Please visit Palm Discovery for the original source of the material.

Current Deals:
Dooney & Bourke Black Treo™ Pouch Original Price:$69.95 Sale Price:$34.97

Del.icio.us categories: archives categories palm astraware starpop games

Popularity: 9% [?]