Once a puzzle game is successful it usually generates a large number of knock-offs or imitations, and sometimes if it isn't successful, another company takes the idea and makes it successful. That's the case with the Japanese game Puzzloop, which was recently released on the DS as Magnetica and Actionloop. PopCap games created a very similar game (almost too similar to be a coincidence) called Zuma for the PC, which then made its way to Xbox Arcade and has now graduated to the Xbox Live Arcade on the 360. But with stiff competition from AstroPop, Bejeweled 2, Jewel Quest and even Hexic HD, it's a tough call if Zuma is worth the 800 points.

Well, actually it's not a tough call! Zuma Deluxe - original idea or not - is fantastic, and has created a theme and presentation all of its own to the point that, to most eyes, Actionloop looks like a knock off of Zuma! Using ancient temples as the setting, players control a stone frog idol in the centre of the screen, which can be rotated a full 360 degrees. Around the screen, a line of different coloured balls extends slowly along a track (or tracks) towards a sun god skull, and if game over as soon as the first ball drops into its mouth. Launching one ball at a time, your goal is to form groups of three or more of the same-coloured balls, which causes them to explode, thus shortening the line. It's a simple concept and a great twist (hardy-har!) on the classic puzzle genre. Once you get the hang of it, you'll learn how to set up combos, create gaps and collect coins to boost your total score.

As you progress in Zuma, this line, or snake, of balls gets faster and faster as it creeps up to the centre of the screen and attempts to enter the skull. Your first goal should always be to fill up the metre on the upper right part of the screen, which stops any new balls from coming into the screen once it's full. Now, the balls still move towards the centre, but no new ones come along, which allows you to relax a bit. There are two main ways to go about gameplay here, one being the strategic approach and the other being the spontaneous approach. The latter means to simply shoot your ball at the first group of like-colours that you see (you get a chain bonus if you continually make a break with each ball you launch) and the other has you playing to win by shooting as few balls as possible.

This second approach requires you to set up combos by ignoring massive groups of one colour and instead filling in the sections of the snake where there are lone balls of one colour. Once most of the balls have at least one friendly coloured partner next to them, you can start making breaks, at which point you're likely to get some really nice combos, as anytime you make a break and the surrounding pieces are a same colour they'll zoom into each other and break on impact, giving you a nice bonus. This style of play is always risky, and you'll find the track of balls getting dangerously close to the skull even in the very early levels; however, it's almost required that you learn to play both ways, as you'll see later on, and making massive chain reactions is extremely satisfying!

The main quest mode will last you a good while, especially when the difficulty begins to really pick up in the later levels; the gameplay gets really frantic and you'll almost always feel yourself tense up as you struggle to clear everything as it rushes to the middle of the screen - it doesn't help that two new colours are introduced into these levels as well, increasing the difficulty substantially. In these levels you'll really have to aim to get the coins on the outside of the screen, which give you a really big bonus towards filling the metre on the top portion of the screen. Another important technique to focus on is getting gap bonuses, which occur when you make an opening in the track of balls and fire a ball through here, breaking balls on the outside portion of the snake. Each level consists of about five or so sub-levels, with about nine main levels in all, so there's a lot to complete. Perhaps the only fault is that shortly into the main quest, some of the boards begin to repeat (around level four), although they are much harder than the first time around. Still, it'd be a lot more enjoyable if each sub-level was a completely new challenge.

The excellent Gauntlet mode also awaits you as well, which is a survival mode that will even drag people who generally don't play survival modes into it. You see, when you go into Gauntlet mode you can pick which board you'd like to play and try to achieve the highest rank (Son of Sun) on it. Once you get Sun of Son on every board, you unlock a highly sought after achievement. This mode is a great alternative to trying to beat five or so consecutive levels in the main quest and helps you get some practice in on particular boards.

The presentation and theme of Zuma really helps the overall experience, as I mentioned above. The temple designs are extremely well done and have some great borders and backgrounds, which can really be appreciated if you're playing on a widescreen TV. The sound effects are just as well done, with some great and original music, superb 'clanking' sound effects when you launch a ball, excellent combo effects and plenty more. Mark my words, you'll find yourself saying "ZUMA!" with the announcer at one point whilst playing. Just you wait!

A very decisive factor in purchasing Zuma should be the controls. In the PC version it's extremely easy to quickly aim your ball and launch it; however, on the 360 it takes some getting used to when rotating your frog with either analog stick. I tested this out with good ol' Mom, who stopped in to see Zuma on the 360, as she is a big fan of it on the PC. Despite playing numerous racing games and golf games on the Xbox and PS2, all with the analog controls, she was struggling to adjust to the controls of the console version of Zuma. If you're a PC fan of this game then take note, and perhaps try out the trial version beforehand to see how you come to grips with it. No matter what though, you won't be able to aim and launch as quickly as you can on the PC.

As for the achievements to unlock, Zuma is one of the more difficult games to get all of the goodies for. In fact, you'll have to accumulate a total of 24 in-game hours for one, become the ultimate Son of Sun for another and even beat a level in under five seconds! If you buy this for the achievement factor then be prepared to work hard for them.

800 points seems a bit much for a puzzle game, but when it's one as unique, clever and original (hey, we're not in Japan, we don't know what a Puzzloop is!) as Zuma Deluxe then it's very much worth it - this excellent puzzler deserves a spot next to Geometry Wars, Bankshot Billiards, UNO and Marble Blast Ultra, right there on your Arcade Games list.

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).