On Reflection

AstroPop is still fun in a masochistic, self-loathing type of way, but, to be honest, for a mere 400 extra points, you can have Puzzle Quest, which actually offers a tad more motivation to keep coming back for more self-inflicted torture.

The Score

This is definitely The Hardest Game In The World. Honestly, we’re not even kidding. The only competition it has for that title on Xbox Live is Bejeweled 2, also developed by PopCap. PopCap hates you! Playing AstroPop is as close as you’ll come to crying at a videogame thanks to its hateful, spiteful difficulty.

Coloured blocks appear at the top of the screen, which you then pick up and fire at other blocks. Having to comply to puzzle game law (circa 1990) means that when you form a chain of four blocks of the same colour, they explode and disappear. For the first few levels, it seems like the easiest game in the world with no tricks or skill involved. Then poison and stone blocks appear. Neither of those can be picked up and placed elsewhere. Worse still, they can only be destroyed by a nearby block detonation. What’s even worse is that poison blocks will infect other nearby blocks, causing problems if you don’t get rid of them early on. The speed of later levels is mind-melting and there’s no way the human brain can possibly work fast enough to work everything out in time before the screen fills with blocks and the Game Over message stutters into view. It’s a proper, full-blooded man challenge that is sure to make you cry with frustration until you pass out from dehydration.

That’s why we keep coming back. It’s simple to play, easy to learn, absolutely impossible to complete. You know you can do better, you know your brain can work just that little bit faster and so the challenge is always calling you back. You can’t resist it. It’s a sadistic puzzle game but one day, it will be completed.

8 out of 10