Venice (video game)

Infobox VG
width=
title= Venice


caption=
developer= Retro64 and PopCap Games
publisher= PopCap Games
distributor= PopCap Games, Valve (via Steam)
designer= Mike Boeh, James Abraham, Jason Kapalka
series=
engine= PopCap Games Framework
version= 1.0 (June 26, 2007)
released= 1.0 (June 26, 2007)
genre= Puzzle
modes= Single player
ratings= ESRB: Everyone (E)
platforms= Windows 98/ ME/ 2000/ XP/ Vista
media= Direct Download
requirements= OS: Win 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista. Memory: 256 MB RAM. DirectX: 7.0. Processor: Pentium II, 700 MHz or faster.
input= Keyboard, Mouse

"Venice" is a Microsoft Windows-based action puzzle game set in an abstract representation of Venice, Italy developed by both Retro64 Games and PopCap Games, it was published by PopCap Games. The game was released on June 26, 2007, with a free trial version and a fully-featured "Deluxe" version for $19.99 USD.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay consists of a gondola controlled by the player that shoots various treasures (Keys, Hearts, Coins, Rings, Vases, Stars and Lyres) directly upward towards plates that have matching slots on the side of a building in an attempt to match the treasure with its matching slot. Plates come in varied shapes such as bars, circles, half-circles, T-shapes, and X-shapes. They may hold as few as one and as many as eight treasure slots, and they may not be stationary. Some feature hinges that cause them to rotate when hit, while others shift or rotate positions when hit. The player usually has the ability to cycle between two treasures before firing.

If a player manages to hit a high matching slot, the treasure will usually tumble and fill one or more lower slots for a combo bonus; each successive tumble increases the bonus and the chance of a power-up popping up. Bank shots earn extra points; when a treasure makes an inordinate amount of banks shots before filling a slot, the player is given a "Lucky shot" bonus. Once a grouping of slots are filled, that grouping vanishes and awards the player more points.

A fired treasure can be diverted by obstacles that include bumpers (stone walls or ledges off of which treasures will bounce), locks and blocks (barriers that require a specific treasure to unlock), bricks (obstacles that crumble when hit), chutes (cylinders that redirect any treasure fired into them), shelves (special plates that hold a number of treasures), teleports (swirly objects that warp treasures from point to point) and baskets (baskets that catch treasures and then drop them). If a player misfires, the treasure will either shatter after a long period of bouncing around the screen, or it will plunge into the water, costing the player one of three lives for that level. The player may prevent this by catching the treasure before it plunges.

After each section of a building is completed, the water level rises to introduce a new part of the building, until all the sections are completed to finish the level.

When a level is completed, the player receives scoring for accuracy, speed of completion, number of combos scored, and how many tries the player took to complete a level.

Power-ups

Sometimes, completing a grouping will unleash a power-up, or jar a power-up from a perched position that the gondola must catch to activate.

Power-ups include:
*A cupid who if fired at will automatically place a treasure into the highest appropriate slot
*A set of wings that allows the player to move anywhere on the screen and fire at a high-placed slot, valuable in getting the best tumbling combos and/or bypassing obstacles
*A "wild card" that fills whatever slots it passes by with the matching treasure
*A blaster power-up that ignores obstacles
*A combo power-up that allows the player to fill more than one slots of a specific treasure
*A 1-up power-up that adds an extra life for the level
*A 2x power-up that doubles the score for the rest of the level
*A 3x power-up that triples the score for the rest of the level (only appears after the 2x power-up has been captured)
*A Reverse power-up (only present in Flood and Survival modes) that sinks the water level

Occasionally, a treasure will fall as a 1,000 point bonus if caught.

Trick shots

Every third level features a "trick shot" puzzle in which the player attempts to clear an entire board with one shot. The player is awarded 10,000 points upon success.

Game modes

The game includes four game modes, three of which must be unlocked:
*Journey: Basic gameplay
*Flood: An action mode in which the river level rises at a steady rate. Icons that splash in the water no longer cost the player, but sections must be completed before the water level engulfs them or the level is failed.
*Survival: Like Flood mode, but a single building that never ends.
*Trick shots: Nothing but trick shots. The player is given a reward of 1,000 points for a successful trick shot, incrementing 1,000 points with each successful trick shot, and resetting to 1,000 after a failure.

There are 72 total buildings (levels) in the game among 8 neighborhoods. As with most PopCap games, "Venice" features online leaderboards.

Reviews

* [http://casualgamerchick.com/2007/06/22/popcap%e2%80%99s-venice/ Casual Gamer Chick]

* [http://www.gamezebo.com/2007/06/venice_deluxe_review.html Gamezebo]

External links

* [http://www.popcap.com/games/venice Official site]
* [http://www.popcap.com/ PopCap Games Homepage]
* [http://www.retro64.com/ Retro64 Homepage]