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Welcome to Gamezebo's strategy guide for Zuma's Revenge!
[color="#008000"]GENERAL TIPS[/color]
[list][*]You have a checkpoint on every 6th level of an area. So if you lose all your lives here, you will be able to restart from the checkpoint, rather than from the first level of that area.[*]When you see a ball flicker, this means it will turn into a bonus ball. Watch out for flickering through the corner of your eyes so you can quickly switch focus.[*]The bonus shots are not limited by time, but by number of shots (different per bonus). So while you won't want to wait too long, it can sometimes pay off to think well about where to use your bonus.[*]Try to get every fruit within reach, but don't make foolish moves that fill up your board. Fruit will quickly help fill the Zuma-meter to finish a level.[*]Chain bonusses (every consecutive shot makes a set of 3 or more balls; hitting fruit will not break the chain) can be quite a bit more helpful than you'd think. Sometimes it's better to take half a second to think, but rake up the chain bonus, which will fill the meter faster.[*]If you can make a triple or higher combo, the line of balls will reverse, giving you a short but welcome breather.[*]When the levels have become so hard for you that it is just trying to survive, just focus on raking up that chain bonus, clearing balls near the frond end of the row, and fill the meter as soon as possible.[*]If you create a gap between two balls of the same color, the whole line of balls will go in reverse.[*]When possible, shoot through a gap for bonus points.[*]Try to avoid shooting the last ball, until at the very end; shooting away the last ball will bumps the line of balls forward a little. In general, try to focus as much as possible on the front.[*]If you have balls that you can't use at that moment, it is generally better to just shoot them into nowhere, than to place them in the row.[/list][size="2"][color="#008000"]BOSS BATTLE STRATEGIES[/color][/size]
Boss 1: Kahtiki Kahn - Ancient Devil Idol
[list][*]This boss is relatively easy. All you need to do is open a gap in the row of balls, and shoot the boss through that.[*]Don't worry too much about clearing the whole row of balls, since you won't be able too; just make sure it doesn't roll onto a second line.[*]Here, it is worth waiting for a combo, as it will quickly pull the whole line back, which is very convenient on a short track like this.[*]Wait for the boss to be behind a set of balls that you can create a gap in, and shoot him through that gap until he is defeated.[*]If you get hit by the objects he throws at you, you will be shortly stunned.[/list]
Boss 2: Maga Maga - Witch Doctor
[list][*]The basic tactics remain the same with this boss as with the first, although it will be a bit more difficult since the first row of balls is now near you, in front of the second row.[*]It is even more efficient to aim for combo's during this battle.[*]On every odd hit (so the first time you hit him, the third, fifth, seventh etc.), the boss will summon two tiki's. Before you can attack the boss again, you will first need to hit both tiki's to disable the boss' force field.[*]If you get hit by his magic, you will be temporarily poisoned, and you will move the other way (if you move your mouse left, the frog will go right).[*]Patience, and trying to create gaps, is the key to beating this boss.[/list]
Boss 3: Baron Digo - Cannibal Idol
[list][*]This boss is not too hard if you know how to play.[*]While you could try and aim for the boss with balls, this will only take half a heart piece per hit.[*]If you hit a skeleton warriors holding a electric ball, you will get an electric beam you can shoot straight at the boss, taking one heart per hit.[*]If you get hit by one of the boss' missiles, you will be dazzled for a short time, and the balls will constantly change color.[*]If you just focus on getting the electric beams, this boss will be done before you know it.[/list]
Boss 4: Kolo Kamari - Mosquito God of Pestilence
[list][*]This boss can only be hurt by the blasts of bomb balls.[*]Try and set up a set of balls with one bomb, and time it so it explodes within reach of the boss.[*]It does not have to be right in front of the boss; as you blow bombs up, try and get a feel of the reach fo the explosion.[*]The boss will initially stay in the middle, but as you get better, he will start switching places. Make sure you time your blasts correctly, or you'll just blow up air. He will shortly flicker before he moves.[*]If you get stung by his mosquitos, the balls you fire will go very slowly, making it incredibly hard to aim and time. So try whatever you can to avoid them.[/list]
Boss 5: Cephalo Ka - Monster of the Depths
[list][*]This boss has a protective circle around him.[*]In order to attack him, blow up bombs near the shield to break it. This will slowly take little bits of his health. Use the same strategy as before in timing the bombs.[*]When enough of the shield has gone for you to aim for the boss itself, shoot him, and you will do big damage.[*]The shield will slowly return, so shoot the boss before he's guarded again.[*]The oil this boss throws at you is the least bottersome of any bosses' attacks, so don't worry too much about it.[/list]
Boss 6: Zaka Mu - Ultimate Devil Spirit
[list][*]This boss fight has 5 different parts.[*]The first part, is incredibly easy; just create one gap and shoot him. The credits will start rolling, but then the real boss will introduce himself.[*]The second part, is quite basic, but the balls will roll quite fast, so the key here is to make decissions quickly, and keep those balls flying.[*]The third part is similair to the second, but the boss is even fast. Keep shooting![*]In the fourth part, the boss will mirror your movements. In order to hit him, find just a short moment in which you can stay face-to-face with him. Even if his magic is coming, keeo your place because as soon as you move, your balls will miss.[*]In the fifth and final part, the boss will mirror your movements inverted; so if you go left, he goes right. The only way to hurt the boss now, is by lining up to him in the exact center of the level.[*]His attacks will have quite an impact on you, so try to avoid them.[/list] If you have already played this game and you liked it very much, we advise you to try these ones.
Zuma's Revenge! Strategy guide.
MultiQuote#2 Guest_Windwalker_*
Posted 27 April 2010 - 02:36 PM
ME
There is much much more than meets the eye about this game, and I have searched the net to find such information but failed. Thus I will add a few humble ideas of mine here.
First, let me tell you this game is already looks good and all, but contains so many hidden small tricks that you can put together that it is actually a strategy game with a fast pace. It is way beyond what it looks like, and I would like to mention about those points that make it so special and enjoyable in my eye.
The graphics are lively and colorfull, there is an enjoyable and humorous theme overall, the sound effects are "excellent" with every important event having an apropriate sound effect (which is very very important)
the GAME
The basics of the game are very easy to learn. Each level contains a "path" or a "curve". On one end of this path is an entry point for balls, and on the other there is an exit point (skull). You quickly notice that you are a frog sitting relatively in the center of the level, and you have a ball in your mouth. After a couple of seconds, a rather lengthy row of balls rush in on the "path" and move about %50 of the road towards exit. And the game begins. Basically, you do not move from your place (except some special levels) but instead rotate your aim, and shoot the ball in your mouth towards the row of "enemy balls" Just shoot so that you create a string of three or more balls and they will explode, granting you some points. Yet with each passing second, even more balls keep coming from the enterance. What you try to do is to destroy enough balls to reach an amount of point so that new balls stop coming, and then you have to destroy all the remaining balls on the path. If you succeed, you "jump" to next level. however, if any of the balls reach the "skull", you fail and lose a life, and the level restarts if you have any remaining lives.
One step further, you learn to change the "stock ball" with the "mouth ball" so you can use whichever you need at any particular time. The system is easy but adds the second level of strategy into the game. Basically, you have a ball in your mouth, and one in your back. With a right click on the mouse, you can swap these balls. So lets say you have a red ball in your mouth, and a yellow ball in your back, and at that particular moment you need a yellow ball (whether to keep up your chain, create a combo, try to grab a bonus before it disappears; which I intend to explain them all below.). All you have to do is to right click and viola, you have a red ball in your back and a yellow ball in your mouth.
The game starts so forgiving that you feel good and capable, and have enough to experiment different "point harvest" methods. Lets talk about them a little bit.
OK so everyone should have noticed that once you gather a set number of points for a level, you reach "zuma!" and thus the income of the balls on the curve stops, and the remaining balls move backwards a little bit, and keep their journey slower for some time. So the earlier you reach "Zuma!" the better for you. Besides, if you can achieve this rapidly, you can beat an "ace time" for the level, which rewards you handsomely for each second you beat the ace time. These points are very important, because each 50000 points grant you an additional life, which you will need in later levels.
POINTS and HOW TO EARN THEM
So how we gain points faster? There are some methods, the most basic one being "destroying a group of balls." This gives the least points alone.
Fruit
Any half witted player will notice that at some random times, fruits will appear somewhere on the screen. This "somewhere" is always behind a line of balls, though, and thus you have to create a gap between yourself and the fruit, then shoot another ball to it to score it. The fruit stays for a short amount of time, though. Thus you have to watch the flow of balls carefully. sometimes, it's better to keep that ball in your mouth for a couple of more seconds to wait until these balls come into line with the fruit, and than shoot "twice" so that you send two balls towards your target. When first ball hits, it will destroy the group and you will have the gap. The second ball will pass through this gap and hit the fruit.
Why is it important to hit the fruit? Because it gives a very big chunk of points, bringing you closer to "zuma!"
This is sometimes easy to do, but sometimes rather impossible. You will not have the chance to score every fruit you see. The balls rush so fast in later levels and the path is so nastily curved that sometimes there are two or three lines of balls between you and your target fruit. So do not feel bad if you can't "catch'em'all!"
Chain
One of the best feelings in the world is creating a "chain" of "30" while playing zuma. A chain is what happens if you succeed to destroy a group of balls with each shot. The chain grants you bonus after you destroy five groups of balls, so the sixth explosion of balls will come with a nice sound effect and x2 modifier for score. If you succeed a seventh, it will have x3 score. Now you understand why I love a chain of 30? It carries a x24 bonus! What does this mean and what exactly is a chain? Lets see.
When you shoot a ball, and it makes contact with the balls in the row, if it creates an explosion (i.e creating a string of three or more balls of same colors) you "score." So if each shot you make is a score for six times, you form a chain. The longer you can keep "scoring" with "each shot" the higher multiplier you get for your score. So if the destruction of three red balls give you 20 points, in your 30th chain you will get a x24 modifier for 20 x 24 = 480 points. However, if you "scored" for five consecutive shots, but your sixt shot missed and landed between other balls without creating a string, or missed and flew out of the screen, your chain is broken and the modifier is nulled.
How does this effect gameplay? I noticed that the quickest method to finish a level is to build up a very good chain. Each "score" will give you many points and you will fill your "zuma meter" rapidly. However, while this is easy to do in earlier levels, it gets very difficult for later levels. The reasons are manyfold, but the most important one is the introduction of new color balls. Earlier levels you only have green blue red and yellow balls, but later you meet with purple balls, and towards the final you will get grey balls into the mix. Thus, it becomes increasingly difficult to find "two balls of same color next to eachother" in the row, which are also have to be in the same color with the ball in your "mouth" or your "back." I will discuss chains deeper below, in tactics.
Combo
The combo can best be explained by an example. Lets say;
G: green. R: red B: Blue (balls)
And we have a set of running stones in the row in our line of shooting as follows:
B B G G R R G G B B
And lets say we have a red ball in mouth. When we shoot the middle "RR" balls, they will form three balls and thus will pop, leaving a gap in their place. Both ends of this gap have two green balls, and a miracle happens. The green ball towards the back of the row (the one further away from the skull sign) pulls the other green balls to themselves, along with any following group attached to these green balls! Thus, four green balls will come together, creating another explosion that removes them and leaves behind a new gap. Thus you have destroyed the red balls, and the green balls with one shoot, which means you created a "combo". The most obvious good side of the combo is that it gives you a handsome amount of points. There are also some other benefits of this I will talk about later.
Lets keep up with our example. What happened until now was that we destroyed the red balls in the middle, and since both ends of the gap contained green balls, the back row pulled the front row to itself and created a row of four green balls, which also explode and leave a gap behind. And now, both ends of this gap contain blue balls! So the blue balls in the back row pull the blue balls in the front row (along with all the other balls connected to them) and explode, thus with a shot of one red ball, we destroyed three groups of balls, making a 3x combo. Nice.
To make things clear, I will give another example, much like the one above.
B B G G R R G B
note that I changed the row a little bit, but the result will be the same when I shoot the red balls. After they explode, they will leave behind a gap which has green balls on both ends, so the row will fall backwards and thre green balls will come together and explode, only to leave another gap with blue balls on both ends.
Ok, but what happens if only two balls of same color come together after the death of a group?
B B G R R G B
The same example with another minor change. Now when I shoot the red balls, the gap will have green balls on both ends. However, when the row falls backwards and two green balls come together, they will not explode, and it will not be a combo. Too bad, right? If they exploded, the blue balls were going to fall back and create another combo... shame... or is it?
As I have already said, the game begins very forgiving, but after some time towards the end levels, things get increasingly difficult. The balls rush so rapidly to the exit skull, and additional colors of balls make it very challenging to bring together three balls, let alone creating combos. However, a combo is not always neccessary. When you destroy a group of stones and the remaining gap contains one ball of same color in both end, the front row falls backwards to the back row, thus the balls move away from the skull, giving you a couple of more seconds to do your job. Besides, the balls also slow down for a couple of seconds, further giving you time to make decisions. Several times in harder levels, especially in the heroic frog mode that becomes available after beating the adventure mode, you will need these small times to beat a level.
There is also a very big downside of "combo" or "pull back" movement. Sometimes, especially after becoming good in the game, you turn into a full-automated-ball-spitting-frog, as your reflexes become better. The reason is that your eyes and mind and hand begin to work very fast (thrillingly) and you keeps sending ball after ball into different areas of the row. A red ball to 3 o'clock, a blue ball to 6 o'clock, ha! swap the ball in your mouth with the one in your back and shoot the grey ball to 11 o'clock! all in one second!
However, sometimes a very bad accident happen and you curse and swear. One of the balls you send destroy a group, and the remaining gap containts two balls of same color. Just as you launch your next ball towards somewhere else, the row falls back but since the ball was launched you have no chance of changing it's trajectory. So instead of where you aimed in the row, the ball lands in a very inapropriate place. I call this "job accident" (and somehow since the invention of Murphy Rules, the accident ball always enters between balls of same color, destroying your chance of scoring them directly and causing a very serious headache.)
The Gap Bonus
Many levels in the game have a "path" or "curve" that bends on itself, thus there are multiple rows of balls towards a direction. If you can create a gap in the first row, and shoot a ball through this gap to "score" some balls in the second row, you gain a gap bonus. The bonus amount of point is neither extremely high nor unimportantly low, and the effort is generally worth the investment, especially in some levels.
For the sake of gap bonus, we can talk about three types of gaps. Static, semi-static and short-lived.
Short lived gap is what happens during a "combo"; basically some balls explode, and the remaining gap has two balls of same color. In about a second, the gap will "collapse"; ie. the ball in the back will pull the front row. It's possible to shoot a second ball through this "short-lived" gap, however it almost always requires a "double tap", or "double click" to shoot two balls rapidly. The second ball is launched even before the first ball hitting on target. When the first ball hits, it scores and creates a short-lived gap, and before it collapses, the second ball flies through it to score on the second line. You feel good for doing so, for your ability if not for the points earned.
Semi-static gap is what happens when you score to destroy some balls, and the remaining gap is being closed by the back-row in normal flow-speed of ,the balls. You still do not have too much time to make use of this gap, especially in latter levels. However, the gap still has a longer lifespan than a short-lived gap, and sometimes it's possible to launch the second ball after the "score" in the first row. And "slowdown" bonus comes in handy in such cases, and sometimes lets you score two or three times through the gap.
Static gap is very nice to have. It generally is a result of some special bonus that destroys all the balls of a particular color in the row, thus the row has more than one gaps over the curve. Lets see our example.
[enterance]BRB______RGGBB_____RRYYGRBBB___________GGRRRRRGGYGBYGR__________________________________________________________[skull]
So, I have used the special bonus to destroy all purply balls! As you can see, there are three gaps on the row of balls. The one in the back (after the first three balls BRB) is semi-static, because the balls are slowly moving to close the gap. The second and the third gaps, however are completly static-for now. When the back row catches with the second string of balls, it will begin pushing them and some time later, the second gap will become semi-static. However, if you can launch some balls through this gap and keep destroying balls in the second row, you will enlegnthen the life of the gap, granting you even more time to score via "Gap Bonus"
And, during some crazy moments of your zuma history, you will be able to send a ball through TWO GAPS to score on the THIRD ROW and you will feel proud.
The distance of the last ball you destroyed from the skull
This is not something major, but sometimes worth the effort. When you destroy the last ball, the distance of the ball to the exit skull will quickly be "measured" by small explosion animations and for each "ball diameter" towards the exit, you will gain additional 100 points. Sometimes in early levels, this grants you up to 2500-3000 points. (for your consideration: 50.000 points net you an extra life) To gain more points in this way, you can use a "pull back" tactic I will explain below, or use a "backwards roll" bonus if you can with the last balls.
Extra Bonus on the Last Ball
Recently I have noticed that the last ball gives a very high point. If you can combine this high-point with a chain-bonus, it may give you a very high bonus point, however I havent been able to try it out yet
Beating the Ace Time
Each level has a set "ace time". If you are able to beat the level before the end of this ace time, you gain additional bonus points for each second you beat it by. This bonus is quite high. Generally, a ten second or so beat for an ace time grants you about +50% or so additional points. For the first few levels, it's relatively easy to beat this time once you become faster. However, future levels will require you to be a little bit lucky to beat this number.
THE BONUSES
Sometimes, a ball begins to flash and it turns into a "bonus carrier". There are a couple of bonuses, some of them better than the others but all helpfull. In the first few levels, they are really "bonuses", so when you activate them you feel good. However, in later levels, they are a neccessity to stay alive.
*aim bonus This bonus has the least direct impact, however it's still usefull. what it does is twofold: first, a light shows the path of your line of shoot, so you better see where your ball is going to land. This is usefull in crowded areas, in strings of disco balls (I call them a disco ball when they are all different, like BRGYGRBRGY so no two balls of same colors are next to eachother.) or in ninety degree turns in the "path". These turns and twist are downright evil, and it's very difficult to shoot at where you want in these areas. Another place where the aim bonus is helpfull is the "low angle" shots. Low angle is when you are F in the example below
___________RRGGGGGGGGBBRRYYGGBB________________
F
So lets say you have a yellow ball in your mouth and thus will aim for the two Y balls towards the end of the row. However, you line of sight has a very low angle, which lowers the total target area drastically. It's very easy to miss the Y balls, and your Y ball can enter between the R balls before them of G balls after them. What aim bonus does, is to highlight the balls that your shot will contact with, thus you know exactly where the ball will land.
The second effect of the aim bonus is that it increases the speed of the balls you launch dramatically, almost twice. This is especially helpfull in long-distance shots or when you try to launch balls through gaps before they collapse.
*slowdown bonus
The balls in the row will slow down for about fifteen seconds. It's all. Pure, simple, helpfull. The additional time this bonus gives you can be used to destroy the balls that have came close to the skull, or to better make use of gaps, or to plan and build combo bonuses, or to eat something as yo play. Very nice in later levels, where the balls move very very fast to their skull.
Backwards bonus
When you activate this bonus, the last ball in the row will stop pulling the others, and the first ball in the row will starting pushing the balls backwards, towards enterance instead of skull, for about five-ten seconds. It's a relief, especially in the latter levels where the gameplay generally happens a few inches ahead of the skull.
Big Bang Bonus
When you activate the bonus, it will create a big explosion that is about four balls diameter in all dimensions, and all balls caught in the blast will be destroyed, giving you a very nice gap to make use of. See the tactics for... tactics, but I can already advice to use this bonus in places where it could effect more balls, like corners or places where two or more rows are close.
The laser bonus
You turn into a cyclops frog, and have eye-lasers that can you can use for four shots. Each shot destroys one ball. Thats it. A few notes:
-using this laser does not break your chains, however it already does not increase the multiplier. So if you are at x12, and you destroy four balls with laser, and you keep scoring after this, your multiplier goes on from x13
-use this bonus to remove single balls between other groups of balls. So if you see a row like
RRRRBGGGGGBYYYY
destroy the blue balls, as you will perhaps need to launch two balls into the row to otherwise remove them. Besides, this can grant you scores if the two sides of the removed ball has same-color balls.
-another usefull... use... of this bonus is to grab other bonuses! Just aim the balls with the bonuses and activate them. Even if they are in the second row, you can rapidly shoot through the first row to your target. Very helpful
Shotgun bonus
This bonus is sometimes very nice. It gives you three balls that launch in the same time with a spread, and these balls destroy everything in their path until they fly out of screen. You can destroy a cone of multiple rows of balls with this power. And, you can also use this power to activate bonuses in the back rows. Before you shoot, three lines of blue arrows will show the projectiles path. This also grants you at least one "gap" to make use of. If you time it right, you can have three gaps, row after row, and enjoy the benefits.
"Mega Laser"
This bonus will give you a heavenly blueish laser. When you launch this laser, all the balls of the color that you shoot it will disappear from the row. Very helpfull in later levels, where the curve is full of balls and you need a relief. besides, before shooting it, it will highlight all the balls that will be destroyed in the row, thus you can estimate which color is better to destroy.
ADVANCED TACTICS and HINTS
The game starts very easy. So easy that you feel good trying to experiment with bonuses, combos, chains, fruits, whatever. Make good use of this time, beccause after the introduction of purple and grey balls, you will have harder time. And the balls will start to move faster. And the patterns of pathes will be so complex that you will be dazzled by the fast movement of different colored balls. Especially level 60... it's... something else completely.
And when you finish the adventure mode, do not feel good. The real challenge, the place where you can show your mastery of the zuma is the Heroic Frog Mode. In this mode, you replay through the adventure, however everything is frustratingly difficult. Even the first levels have the additional balls of purple and grey. The balls move extremely fast until they aproach close proximity with the skull. The zuma-meter takes forever to fill. The fruits and the bonuses stay for very short amount of time. And I suspect even more colors of balls will be added in the following levels.
Thus, you will need every small detail, every small act that can grant you one more second, to be able to stay alive.
* two balls of same colors in your mouth and in your back: when this happens, most of the time you should chose to remove a single ball from between the others, instead of shooting to score. The only exceptions to these are a) the balls are about to reach the skull
you have built up a very good chain and you don't want to break it.
What I mean is this:
BBBBBPPPPPYYYRRRGGGGPGGGGYYYYYPPPPPRRRRR
for you I have highlighted the purple balls. This is because, I am assuming that you have a purple ball in your mouth, and a purple ball in your back. So what you can do is to destroy two big groups of purple color, or the single purple ball in the middle by shooting both balls into it. I advice for the latter. This is because, you will have the chance to destroy the other groups in the future, if you receive only one purple ball. But you can't destroy the lone purple ball with just one more purple ball. Thus, use this chance and remove the annoying lonely ball from existance. (I repeat, however, if the balls are about to reach the skull, or if you have built a good chain, you may opt to destroy the two big groups.)
* pull back
Use the fact that same colored balls pull eachother if there is a gap between them. I will give an example. You just used an explosion bonus to destroy a good chunk of balls and have a gap like below, and a green ball in your mouth.
RRRBBYYBB______________________GRRBBYYGG
My advice is to launch the green ball to the highlighted B ball, instead of highlighted green balls. If you land the ball towards the gap next to the blue, you will change both ends of the gap to the same color, thus the front row will completely fall back. This impact also moves the row back a very small amount (about one ball-size). However, this distance and slowdown for a couple of seconds will grant you very precious time, especially in later levels where the balls quickly reach the skull. Many times in zuma life, I have used this tactic to hold on just for a couple of more seconds, pulling the balls back from the mouth of the skull a few times, and suddenly you reach zuma and your hopes awaken. It's such things that make the game so challanging and exciting.
*hunt for the bonuses Early in the game, bonuses are just nice additions. However especially in heroic frog, you need to use them to stay alive or you just can't handle all that crazy speed and number of balls. Keep an eye (and an ear) open to notice balls turning into bonus carriers, and try to destroy them first. Every bonus helps.
most of the time, instead of destroying two balls, I choose to use my ball to double up the bonus carrier if it is a lone ball. Lets give an example. Highlighted red ball carries the explosion bonus, and you have a red ball in your mouth.
BBBPPGRRRGRBRBBBYYYGRGBRPRRR
Many times, if I am not on a 10+chain or the balls are about to fall into the skull, I chose to shoot my red ball to the highlighted bonus carrier, instead of scoring other groups of reds. The explosion is much more helpfull and if one more red ball arrives, I will activate this bonus.
*build up combo's this one is really advanced, and unfortunately only achievable in easier levels (untill you become a zuma-noid monster) however it's still worth mentioning. Basically, what you try to do is to arrange srtings of balls, and once you destroy the ones in the middle, you start a combo. try to have a row like this:
GGRRBBRRGG
Thus when you destroy the blue balls in the middle, you will start a combo reaction, scoring high and also pulling back the row quite well. So A question for you. The row below has a missing ball to create a combo. Which color is it and where should it be?
RRGYYBBGGR
hint: you have a blue ball in your mouth
Thats it for now. I am pretty sure there are many more things to write about zuma, however I have already gone very long. I hope it helps, and you enjoy the game even more.
There is much much more than meets the eye about this game, and I have searched the net to find such information but failed. Thus I will add a few humble ideas of mine here.
First, let me tell you this game is already looks good and all, but contains so many hidden small tricks that you can put together that it is actually a strategy game with a fast pace. It is way beyond what it looks like, and I would like to mention about those points that make it so special and enjoyable in my eye.
The graphics are lively and colorfull, there is an enjoyable and humorous theme overall, the sound effects are "excellent" with every important event having an apropriate sound effect (which is very very important)
the GAME
The basics of the game are very easy to learn. Each level contains a "path" or a "curve". On one end of this path is an entry point for balls, and on the other there is an exit point (skull). You quickly notice that you are a frog sitting relatively in the center of the level, and you have a ball in your mouth. After a couple of seconds, a rather lengthy row of balls rush in on the "path" and move about %50 of the road towards exit. And the game begins. Basically, you do not move from your place (except some special levels) but instead rotate your aim, and shoot the ball in your mouth towards the row of "enemy balls" Just shoot so that you create a string of three or more balls and they will explode, granting you some points. Yet with each passing second, even more balls keep coming from the enterance. What you try to do is to destroy enough balls to reach an amount of point so that new balls stop coming, and then you have to destroy all the remaining balls on the path. If you succeed, you "jump" to next level. however, if any of the balls reach the "skull", you fail and lose a life, and the level restarts if you have any remaining lives.
One step further, you learn to change the "stock ball" with the "mouth ball" so you can use whichever you need at any particular time. The system is easy but adds the second level of strategy into the game. Basically, you have a ball in your mouth, and one in your back. With a right click on the mouse, you can swap these balls. So lets say you have a red ball in your mouth, and a yellow ball in your back, and at that particular moment you need a yellow ball (whether to keep up your chain, create a combo, try to grab a bonus before it disappears; which I intend to explain them all below.). All you have to do is to right click and viola, you have a red ball in your back and a yellow ball in your mouth.
The game starts so forgiving that you feel good and capable, and have enough to experiment different "point harvest" methods. Lets talk about them a little bit.
OK so everyone should have noticed that once you gather a set number of points for a level, you reach "zuma!" and thus the income of the balls on the curve stops, and the remaining balls move backwards a little bit, and keep their journey slower for some time. So the earlier you reach "Zuma!" the better for you. Besides, if you can achieve this rapidly, you can beat an "ace time" for the level, which rewards you handsomely for each second you beat the ace time. These points are very important, because each 50000 points grant you an additional life, which you will need in later levels.
POINTS and HOW TO EARN THEM
So how we gain points faster? There are some methods, the most basic one being "destroying a group of balls." This gives the least points alone.
Fruit
Any half witted player will notice that at some random times, fruits will appear somewhere on the screen. This "somewhere" is always behind a line of balls, though, and thus you have to create a gap between yourself and the fruit, then shoot another ball to it to score it. The fruit stays for a short amount of time, though. Thus you have to watch the flow of balls carefully. sometimes, it's better to keep that ball in your mouth for a couple of more seconds to wait until these balls come into line with the fruit, and than shoot "twice" so that you send two balls towards your target. When first ball hits, it will destroy the group and you will have the gap. The second ball will pass through this gap and hit the fruit.
Why is it important to hit the fruit? Because it gives a very big chunk of points, bringing you closer to "zuma!"
This is sometimes easy to do, but sometimes rather impossible. You will not have the chance to score every fruit you see. The balls rush so fast in later levels and the path is so nastily curved that sometimes there are two or three lines of balls between you and your target fruit. So do not feel bad if you can't "catch'em'all!"
Chain
One of the best feelings in the world is creating a "chain" of "30" while playing zuma. A chain is what happens if you succeed to destroy a group of balls with each shot. The chain grants you bonus after you destroy five groups of balls, so the sixth explosion of balls will come with a nice sound effect and x2 modifier for score. If you succeed a seventh, it will have x3 score. Now you understand why I love a chain of 30? It carries a x24 bonus! What does this mean and what exactly is a chain? Lets see.
When you shoot a ball, and it makes contact with the balls in the row, if it creates an explosion (i.e creating a string of three or more balls of same colors) you "score." So if each shot you make is a score for six times, you form a chain. The longer you can keep "scoring" with "each shot" the higher multiplier you get for your score. So if the destruction of three red balls give you 20 points, in your 30th chain you will get a x24 modifier for 20 x 24 = 480 points. However, if you "scored" for five consecutive shots, but your sixt shot missed and landed between other balls without creating a string, or missed and flew out of the screen, your chain is broken and the modifier is nulled.
How does this effect gameplay? I noticed that the quickest method to finish a level is to build up a very good chain. Each "score" will give you many points and you will fill your "zuma meter" rapidly. However, while this is easy to do in earlier levels, it gets very difficult for later levels. The reasons are manyfold, but the most important one is the introduction of new color balls. Earlier levels you only have green blue red and yellow balls, but later you meet with purple balls, and towards the final you will get grey balls into the mix. Thus, it becomes increasingly difficult to find "two balls of same color next to eachother" in the row, which are also have to be in the same color with the ball in your "mouth" or your "back." I will discuss chains deeper below, in tactics.
Combo
The combo can best be explained by an example. Lets say;
G: green. R: red B: Blue (balls)
And we have a set of running stones in the row in our line of shooting as follows:
B B G G R R G G B B
And lets say we have a red ball in mouth. When we shoot the middle "RR" balls, they will form three balls and thus will pop, leaving a gap in their place. Both ends of this gap have two green balls, and a miracle happens. The green ball towards the back of the row (the one further away from the skull sign) pulls the other green balls to themselves, along with any following group attached to these green balls! Thus, four green balls will come together, creating another explosion that removes them and leaves behind a new gap. Thus you have destroyed the red balls, and the green balls with one shoot, which means you created a "combo". The most obvious good side of the combo is that it gives you a handsome amount of points. There are also some other benefits of this I will talk about later.
Lets keep up with our example. What happened until now was that we destroyed the red balls in the middle, and since both ends of the gap contained green balls, the back row pulled the front row to itself and created a row of four green balls, which also explode and leave a gap behind. And now, both ends of this gap contain blue balls! So the blue balls in the back row pull the blue balls in the front row (along with all the other balls connected to them) and explode, thus with a shot of one red ball, we destroyed three groups of balls, making a 3x combo. Nice.
To make things clear, I will give another example, much like the one above.
B B G G R R G B
note that I changed the row a little bit, but the result will be the same when I shoot the red balls. After they explode, they will leave behind a gap which has green balls on both ends, so the row will fall backwards and thre green balls will come together and explode, only to leave another gap with blue balls on both ends.
Ok, but what happens if only two balls of same color come together after the death of a group?
B B G R R G B
The same example with another minor change. Now when I shoot the red balls, the gap will have green balls on both ends. However, when the row falls backwards and two green balls come together, they will not explode, and it will not be a combo. Too bad, right? If they exploded, the blue balls were going to fall back and create another combo... shame... or is it?
As I have already said, the game begins very forgiving, but after some time towards the end levels, things get increasingly difficult. The balls rush so rapidly to the exit skull, and additional colors of balls make it very challenging to bring together three balls, let alone creating combos. However, a combo is not always neccessary. When you destroy a group of stones and the remaining gap contains one ball of same color in both end, the front row falls backwards to the back row, thus the balls move away from the skull, giving you a couple of more seconds to do your job. Besides, the balls also slow down for a couple of seconds, further giving you time to make decisions. Several times in harder levels, especially in the heroic frog mode that becomes available after beating the adventure mode, you will need these small times to beat a level.
There is also a very big downside of "combo" or "pull back" movement. Sometimes, especially after becoming good in the game, you turn into a full-automated-ball-spitting-frog, as your reflexes become better. The reason is that your eyes and mind and hand begin to work very fast (thrillingly) and you keeps sending ball after ball into different areas of the row. A red ball to 3 o'clock, a blue ball to 6 o'clock, ha! swap the ball in your mouth with the one in your back and shoot the grey ball to 11 o'clock! all in one second!
However, sometimes a very bad accident happen and you curse and swear. One of the balls you send destroy a group, and the remaining gap containts two balls of same color. Just as you launch your next ball towards somewhere else, the row falls back but since the ball was launched you have no chance of changing it's trajectory. So instead of where you aimed in the row, the ball lands in a very inapropriate place. I call this "job accident" (and somehow since the invention of Murphy Rules, the accident ball always enters between balls of same color, destroying your chance of scoring them directly and causing a very serious headache.)
The Gap Bonus
Many levels in the game have a "path" or "curve" that bends on itself, thus there are multiple rows of balls towards a direction. If you can create a gap in the first row, and shoot a ball through this gap to "score" some balls in the second row, you gain a gap bonus. The bonus amount of point is neither extremely high nor unimportantly low, and the effort is generally worth the investment, especially in some levels.
For the sake of gap bonus, we can talk about three types of gaps. Static, semi-static and short-lived.
Short lived gap is what happens during a "combo"; basically some balls explode, and the remaining gap has two balls of same color. In about a second, the gap will "collapse"; ie. the ball in the back will pull the front row. It's possible to shoot a second ball through this "short-lived" gap, however it almost always requires a "double tap", or "double click" to shoot two balls rapidly. The second ball is launched even before the first ball hitting on target. When the first ball hits, it scores and creates a short-lived gap, and before it collapses, the second ball flies through it to score on the second line. You feel good for doing so, for your ability if not for the points earned.
Semi-static gap is what happens when you score to destroy some balls, and the remaining gap is being closed by the back-row in normal flow-speed of ,the balls. You still do not have too much time to make use of this gap, especially in latter levels. However, the gap still has a longer lifespan than a short-lived gap, and sometimes it's possible to launch the second ball after the "score" in the first row. And "slowdown" bonus comes in handy in such cases, and sometimes lets you score two or three times through the gap.
Static gap is very nice to have. It generally is a result of some special bonus that destroys all the balls of a particular color in the row, thus the row has more than one gaps over the curve. Lets see our example.
[enterance]BRB______RGGBB_____RRYYGRBBB___________GGRRRRRGGYGBYGR__________________________________________________________[skull]
So, I have used the special bonus to destroy all purply balls! As you can see, there are three gaps on the row of balls. The one in the back (after the first three balls BRB) is semi-static, because the balls are slowly moving to close the gap. The second and the third gaps, however are completly static-for now. When the back row catches with the second string of balls, it will begin pushing them and some time later, the second gap will become semi-static. However, if you can launch some balls through this gap and keep destroying balls in the second row, you will enlegnthen the life of the gap, granting you even more time to score via "Gap Bonus"
And, during some crazy moments of your zuma history, you will be able to send a ball through TWO GAPS to score on the THIRD ROW and you will feel proud.
The distance of the last ball you destroyed from the skull
This is not something major, but sometimes worth the effort. When you destroy the last ball, the distance of the ball to the exit skull will quickly be "measured" by small explosion animations and for each "ball diameter" towards the exit, you will gain additional 100 points. Sometimes in early levels, this grants you up to 2500-3000 points. (for your consideration: 50.000 points net you an extra life) To gain more points in this way, you can use a "pull back" tactic I will explain below, or use a "backwards roll" bonus if you can with the last balls.
Extra Bonus on the Last Ball
Recently I have noticed that the last ball gives a very high point. If you can combine this high-point with a chain-bonus, it may give you a very high bonus point, however I havent been able to try it out yet
Beating the Ace Time
Each level has a set "ace time". If you are able to beat the level before the end of this ace time, you gain additional bonus points for each second you beat it by. This bonus is quite high. Generally, a ten second or so beat for an ace time grants you about +50% or so additional points. For the first few levels, it's relatively easy to beat this time once you become faster. However, future levels will require you to be a little bit lucky to beat this number.
THE BONUSES
Sometimes, a ball begins to flash and it turns into a "bonus carrier". There are a couple of bonuses, some of them better than the others but all helpfull. In the first few levels, they are really "bonuses", so when you activate them you feel good. However, in later levels, they are a neccessity to stay alive.
*aim bonus This bonus has the least direct impact, however it's still usefull. what it does is twofold: first, a light shows the path of your line of shoot, so you better see where your ball is going to land. This is usefull in crowded areas, in strings of disco balls (I call them a disco ball when they are all different, like BRGYGRBRGY so no two balls of same colors are next to eachother.) or in ninety degree turns in the "path". These turns and twist are downright evil, and it's very difficult to shoot at where you want in these areas. Another place where the aim bonus is helpfull is the "low angle" shots. Low angle is when you are F in the example below
___________RRGGGGGGGGBBRRYYGGBB________________
F
So lets say you have a yellow ball in your mouth and thus will aim for the two Y balls towards the end of the row. However, you line of sight has a very low angle, which lowers the total target area drastically. It's very easy to miss the Y balls, and your Y ball can enter between the R balls before them of G balls after them. What aim bonus does, is to highlight the balls that your shot will contact with, thus you know exactly where the ball will land.
The second effect of the aim bonus is that it increases the speed of the balls you launch dramatically, almost twice. This is especially helpfull in long-distance shots or when you try to launch balls through gaps before they collapse.
*slowdown bonus
The balls in the row will slow down for about fifteen seconds. It's all. Pure, simple, helpfull. The additional time this bonus gives you can be used to destroy the balls that have came close to the skull, or to better make use of gaps, or to plan and build combo bonuses, or to eat something as yo play. Very nice in later levels, where the balls move very very fast to their skull.
Backwards bonus
When you activate this bonus, the last ball in the row will stop pulling the others, and the first ball in the row will starting pushing the balls backwards, towards enterance instead of skull, for about five-ten seconds. It's a relief, especially in the latter levels where the gameplay generally happens a few inches ahead of the skull.
Big Bang Bonus
When you activate the bonus, it will create a big explosion that is about four balls diameter in all dimensions, and all balls caught in the blast will be destroyed, giving you a very nice gap to make use of. See the tactics for... tactics, but I can already advice to use this bonus in places where it could effect more balls, like corners or places where two or more rows are close.
The laser bonus
You turn into a cyclops frog, and have eye-lasers that can you can use for four shots. Each shot destroys one ball. Thats it. A few notes:
-using this laser does not break your chains, however it already does not increase the multiplier. So if you are at x12, and you destroy four balls with laser, and you keep scoring after this, your multiplier goes on from x13
-use this bonus to remove single balls between other groups of balls. So if you see a row like
RRRRBGGGGGBYYYY
destroy the blue balls, as you will perhaps need to launch two balls into the row to otherwise remove them. Besides, this can grant you scores if the two sides of the removed ball has same-color balls.
-another usefull... use... of this bonus is to grab other bonuses! Just aim the balls with the bonuses and activate them. Even if they are in the second row, you can rapidly shoot through the first row to your target. Very helpful
Shotgun bonus
This bonus is sometimes very nice. It gives you three balls that launch in the same time with a spread, and these balls destroy everything in their path until they fly out of screen. You can destroy a cone of multiple rows of balls with this power. And, you can also use this power to activate bonuses in the back rows. Before you shoot, three lines of blue arrows will show the projectiles path. This also grants you at least one "gap" to make use of. If you time it right, you can have three gaps, row after row, and enjoy the benefits.
"Mega Laser"
This bonus will give you a heavenly blueish laser. When you launch this laser, all the balls of the color that you shoot it will disappear from the row. Very helpfull in later levels, where the curve is full of balls and you need a relief. besides, before shooting it, it will highlight all the balls that will be destroyed in the row, thus you can estimate which color is better to destroy.
ADVANCED TACTICS and HINTS
The game starts very easy. So easy that you feel good trying to experiment with bonuses, combos, chains, fruits, whatever. Make good use of this time, beccause after the introduction of purple and grey balls, you will have harder time. And the balls will start to move faster. And the patterns of pathes will be so complex that you will be dazzled by the fast movement of different colored balls. Especially level 60... it's... something else completely.
And when you finish the adventure mode, do not feel good. The real challenge, the place where you can show your mastery of the zuma is the Heroic Frog Mode. In this mode, you replay through the adventure, however everything is frustratingly difficult. Even the first levels have the additional balls of purple and grey. The balls move extremely fast until they aproach close proximity with the skull. The zuma-meter takes forever to fill. The fruits and the bonuses stay for very short amount of time. And I suspect even more colors of balls will be added in the following levels.
Thus, you will need every small detail, every small act that can grant you one more second, to be able to stay alive.
* two balls of same colors in your mouth and in your back: when this happens, most of the time you should chose to remove a single ball from between the others, instead of shooting to score. The only exceptions to these are a) the balls are about to reach the skull
you have built up a very good chain and you don't want to break it.What I mean is this:
BBBBBPPPPPYYYRRRGGGGPGGGGYYYYYPPPPPRRRRR
for you I have highlighted the purple balls. This is because, I am assuming that you have a purple ball in your mouth, and a purple ball in your back. So what you can do is to destroy two big groups of purple color, or the single purple ball in the middle by shooting both balls into it. I advice for the latter. This is because, you will have the chance to destroy the other groups in the future, if you receive only one purple ball. But you can't destroy the lone purple ball with just one more purple ball. Thus, use this chance and remove the annoying lonely ball from existance. (I repeat, however, if the balls are about to reach the skull, or if you have built a good chain, you may opt to destroy the two big groups.)
* pull back
Use the fact that same colored balls pull eachother if there is a gap between them. I will give an example. You just used an explosion bonus to destroy a good chunk of balls and have a gap like below, and a green ball in your mouth.
RRRBBYYBB______________________GRRBBYYGG
My advice is to launch the green ball to the highlighted B ball, instead of highlighted green balls. If you land the ball towards the gap next to the blue, you will change both ends of the gap to the same color, thus the front row will completely fall back. This impact also moves the row back a very small amount (about one ball-size). However, this distance and slowdown for a couple of seconds will grant you very precious time, especially in later levels where the balls quickly reach the skull. Many times in zuma life, I have used this tactic to hold on just for a couple of more seconds, pulling the balls back from the mouth of the skull a few times, and suddenly you reach zuma and your hopes awaken. It's such things that make the game so challanging and exciting.
*hunt for the bonuses Early in the game, bonuses are just nice additions. However especially in heroic frog, you need to use them to stay alive or you just can't handle all that crazy speed and number of balls. Keep an eye (and an ear) open to notice balls turning into bonus carriers, and try to destroy them first. Every bonus helps.
most of the time, instead of destroying two balls, I choose to use my ball to double up the bonus carrier if it is a lone ball. Lets give an example. Highlighted red ball carries the explosion bonus, and you have a red ball in your mouth.
BBBPPGRRRGRBRBBBYYYGRGBRPRRR
Many times, if I am not on a 10+chain or the balls are about to fall into the skull, I chose to shoot my red ball to the highlighted bonus carrier, instead of scoring other groups of reds. The explosion is much more helpfull and if one more red ball arrives, I will activate this bonus.
*build up combo's this one is really advanced, and unfortunately only achievable in easier levels (untill you become a zuma-noid monster) however it's still worth mentioning. Basically, what you try to do is to arrange srtings of balls, and once you destroy the ones in the middle, you start a combo. try to have a row like this:
GGRRBBRRGG
Thus when you destroy the blue balls in the middle, you will start a combo reaction, scoring high and also pulling back the row quite well. So A question for you. The row below has a missing ball to create a combo. Which color is it and where should it be?
RRGYYBBGGR
hint: you have a blue ball in your mouth
Thats it for now. I am pretty sure there are many more things to write about zuma, however I have already gone very long. I hope it helps, and you enjoy the game even more.
#3 Guest_Christie_*
Posted 19 January 2011 - 04:48 PM
I am playing on my droid x and when I get to boss 5 if I don't shoot no matter what color I have a soon as the balls start I don't get to because the frog spirals off the screen. If I do shoot I have to do so so quickly that I don't accomplish anything and then the frog just spirals off the screen anyway. Is this something with the Droid or something I am not understanding about the game or what?
