TopplePOP (PC, mobile, unannounced consoles) | Spirit Animal Inc | Release: 2020
TopplePOP is a game that stems from the fundamental human truth that Tetris is wonderful, and any game that kind-of resembles it has a chance of being great too. Thankfully, it does plenty to stand out in its own right, scratching different itches to most other block-based puzzlers.
This is a competitive puzzle game for up to four players, in which your avatar–an animal attached to a bungee cord at the top of the screen–drops shapes into a classic puzzle game basin. Match four blocks of the same colour and they’ll vanish, but blocks won’t sit flush like they do in Tetris, and are affected by physics. Your objective is to clear the ‘Grumbles’ in the basin, critters who are colour coded to show which blocks can ‘rescue’ them by being matched while touching them.
The bungee cord is TopplePOP’s big innovation. You can jump down, rotate them, and be precise, but that will take time. Alternatively, you can hurl the block from the top of the screen, dropping it down or throwing it hard, but it might not land where you want. Some blocks are sticky, black blocks cannot be matched and simply accumulate, and various other effects tied to each level can impact your ability to clear them fast.
TopplePOP has been designed with esports in mind, but to me, it seems like a wonderful party game, one that is immediately understandable but which you could also spend dozens of hours mastering. The risk/reward inherent in how you throw the blocks leads to the kind of wild, messy, funny chaos that keeps you coming back for more.
– James O’Connor
