Pulpi Rescue is a fast paced Windows Phone puzzle game that has you eliminating fish as they storm the beaches where pulp, who I believe is an octopus, is located.
Regardless as to what type creature the main character is, the Windows Phone game includes two gaming modes to keep you busy, decent graphics and a game pace that has a little zip. I will warn you that the game is plagued with ads for other gaming titles from the developer but if you can look past these ads, Pulpi Rescue has potential.
When you first launch Pulpi Rescue you will be greeted by an advertisement for several of the developers other Windows Phone games. Continuing past this screen you will find yourself at the game's main menu that contains options to mute the sound and music, rate the game in the Windows Phone Store, view all the games from the developer and jump into game play.
However, before you can get to the game modes you'll be greeted by yet another advertisement asking you to support the developer's sponsors. I can fully appreciate the need for ad-support and while the ads in Pulpi Rescue are annoying, I've actually seen worse. You do have the option to drop the ad-support through a $.99 in-app purchase.
Once you successfully navigate past the full-page ads, you will find game play divided into two modes - Short Missions and Championship. The Short Missions is a collection of thirty gaming levels, each with a specific mission to tackle (e.g. score x number of points, create x number of combos, etc.).
The Championship mode is a survival game to see how many points you can score and have it submitted to an online leaderboard.
Game play is mostly the same with both game modes. You have a school of multi-colored fish that are slowly approach a beach where pulpi is hanging out. You have to tap on the fish to eliminate them and save pulpi. While it sounds simple, each time you eliminate a fish, the school advances one step closer to the beach.
To help keep pace with the advancing fish, you can eliminate multiple fish by tapping on diagonal groupings of the same colored fish. This will pull the leading edge of the school of fish back to the group.
You can earn one time use bonus items with the Short Mission mode, which are already available in the Championship mode. These bonuses include:
- Changing the colors of the fish
- Firing a group of cannon balls to eliminate a large chunk of the school
- Unleashing a squid that takes out the center row of fish
- Placing a group of red octopus (or could it be pulpi?) that act as floating mines to take out the fish as they approach the beach
Regardless of the game mode, Pulpi Rescue has a rather zippy pace. You will be inclined to tap away at the fish as quickly as possible but unless you take out groups of fish, it will not take long before the school reaches the beach. When that happens, the game is over.
Overall Impression
Game play alone, Pulpi Rescue is an entertaining gaming title. When you add the full-screen ad-support and a good bit of the appeal fades. The only saving grace is that the full-screen ads are patterned with the game's graphics. It takes a little bit of the sting out of things but I would have preferred to see ad-banners on the menu pages.
Graphics are decent, borderline minimal and game play challenging enough to keep things interesting. I do not know if Pulpi Rescue could hold up to marathon gaming sessions but for quick fixes, it should do nicely.
The game pulls down a perfect 5 star rating in the Windows Phone Store, which may be a little on the high side. If you take the plunge and give Pulpi Rescue a try, let us know what you think in the comments below.
