Gamer reviews for Hero Pop
Pop the Magic Balloons
Chillingo is probably the most prolific mobile game company out there. Notice that I called them a company, not a developer, since they also publish games. I have encountered their products so many times already that I know what to expect. Their games, developed or published, are polished. This does not necessarily mean that the games they produce are automatically good games.
Hero Pop may look like your generic Match3 / Chainpopper game with its balloon motif which is already used to death. In a sense, Hero Pop is a generic Match3 game. However, there are lots of gameplay variety and additions that are implemented. These additions are not unique, all of them are found in any other title of the same genre. Things like more than three balloons chaining will generate off a new kind of balloon that has special properties, like lightning or explosions, is present in Hero Pop. And we all know, such has been implemented in numerous other titles already.
Hero Pop is free, but it has in-app store for buying coins, which in turn can be used in speeding up bonus gifts (as they are given daily) and purchasing lives. If you are familiar with Candy Crush Saga, they have the same limited lives, stopping you from retrying levels you cannot complete. You have to either wait for the lives to replenish or buy your way through it.
Hero Pop's core gameplay is great. However, it does get overwhelming as you progress. It is not about difficulty either, it just that there are so many things to consider, and so many elements thrown in. If there is such a thing as game overdesign, this is it. Imagine all of the things you could have on a Match3 game, and imagine them actually existing, and then you have Hero Pop. Nevertheless, it is a great game, polished, entertaining, and has so much depth. I just felt like I did not sign up for this when the premise is to free the heroes trapped in balloons, and later on I chain X amount of green super-balloons, and free Y amount of heroes, in a time constraint, while trying to survive the round!
The graphics of this game is colorful and cute, ample for this game and this genre. Nothing spectacular, but they are good to look at. The music is fine, does not get in the way, probably for the best.
There are 100 levels in this game and you will get stuck in levels and such. You can buy some coins and it seems that the amount of coins to its cost is reasonable enough. Hero Pop is all you wanted from a Match3 game, and more, but it does not make it perfect, yet it is more than enjoyable.