Writings of Mass Deduction

Sometimes games are insanely addictive… and you don’t really know why. Ever sank several hours into Tetris without realising it had happened? All you’re doing in that game is clearing lines from a screen, big whoopdiedo, right? Well, add “Guppy: Collects! 2” to that list. This is apparently a sub-genre of rhythm games that’s popular on mobile platforms. That could be true, I don’t play mobile games so I can’t confirm (to me, mobile devices are about reading on the web, checking my email, and doing mobile productivity, so that by the time I finally get home I’ve freed up time to do *real* gaming on a big screen TV, but I digress). But it works great with a 360 gamepad, and constantly urges you to play just “one more turn”.

“Guppy: Collects! 2” has a lot of personality. Colourful art intermingles with overexcited cats that act as your entourage, and other humourous touches (among other things you may experience is your guppy wearing a paper bag over its head). You collect things by doing the correct action signified by each item, and repeating. Get it wrong and you’ll start facing down the ticking clock; get it right and you get to keep on collecting.

Controls are tight, and pressing on to see all of the game’s many backgrounds, and dozens of guppy outfits, provides some incentive to continue beyond simple high scores as the pure pleasure of guppy-led collection. The action is fast and frantic, and definitely worth a trial. 80 Microsoft Points if it rubs you the right way.

Here’s what the developer (Ho-Hum Games) has to say about the game:

“The highly anticipated sequel to Guppy: Collects! finally comes to Xbox Live Indie Games! Collect all-new items in diverse environments to the beat of a compelling original score. Old and new fans alike will enjoy pushing Guppy to new limits in a race against the clock to collect it all!”