New game: Zoop

Abstract, eh?

Last week I bought a new Mega Drive game off eBay called Zoop. This is an obscure puzzler released on many platforms in the mid-'90s, even on PlayStation. The game was developed by a North Yorkshire-based company, Hookstone, who also made Sentinel Returns. It was published by Viacom.

The game is very weird. You control a triangle in a centre square. Shapes of different colours approach the square from each side, and the only way for them to be destroyed is if you fire yourself at them with the same colour. If the shapes touch the centre square, it's game over.

To become the correct colour, you must swap with a shape. For example, you start off purple so to become orange you would fire yourself at an orange shape. Now you can destroy any orange shape. If you destroy a shape, you become the colour of the shape behind it. Confusing.

The game is fun and can become addicting. The background changes colour every level and becomes more and more distracting. However, you don't ever really get into a gaming trance like you can with Tetris and Columns, as this game requires more thinking. Also the jazz music can get annoying. It was definitely worth £2.95 though!

Below is a gameplay movie which will hopefully make the game more clear. Ignore the emo music at the start. The best quote is, "Zoop; Z-O-O-P-T-M".