Zoop

Describing a videogame as the next Tetris is like calling a rock group the next Beatles — no matter how good the package, it's never going to duplicate the unique circumstances that made the original such a worldwide smash. Even so, Zoop is pretty darned promising. In this thumb-busting puzzler, you fight off multicolored shapes approaching from four directions on a rectangular grid. Shoot a shape of the same color and you destroy it; shoot a shape of a different color and your ship changes to that color. What with the peppy music and wacky backgrounds (both of which vary from stage to stage), you have a game that, while not quite as addictive as Tetris, is just as much fun. A-