Bubble Bash Review

Costas Stephanides’s Review

A great new take on the bubble bursting genre

We're not sure what is so great about firing bubbles into each other and watching them explode but it is great fun. Ever since Puzzle Bobble was released in the arcades, this style of gme has always been a favourite of ours. There have been many clones, usually with a different theme and poor controls. Trust Gameloft to come up with a variation on the concept and develop another great game.

The basic idea is to launch bubbles from the bottom of the screen to hit like coloured bubbles and steadily clear all the bubbles. Gameloft have added balloons into the mix and fully utilised the new concept. The bubbles are connected to the balloons which gently float on the screen. The balloons can be manipulated by launching bubbles sideways to impart some horizontal motion. Add bubbles onto the pack and the balloon will get heavy and start to descend towards you. The game also has crows which, apart from getting in the way and being a nuisance, drop bubbles onto the pack. Add to this a variety of special bubbles and you already have a very different game.

But there's more, Bubble Bash is heaving with levels. Story mode has 110 levels with an additional set of super hard levels. Plus there is 'crab fever' which is plays a lot like the first Puzzle Bobble mobile game and is basically a single continuous level. There's still more... The 110 levels do not follow the same pattern. Some levels are against the clock (fine nothing too unusual here), other levels require you to knock out balloons as they move along a horizontal conveyor belt (getting interesting now) and there are even levels which only have crows which need taking down by your good self. The developers must have sat in a dark room and thought of every possible scenario and they have succeeded in taking Bubble Bash to the nth degree. To increase the longevity further, you are awarded bronze, silver and gold trophies for each level. A very in-depth stats section sits within the game waiting to tease into one more attempt.

The graphics here are as good as you can expect. There's plenty of detail in the backgrounds and the characters. You can unlock costumes and customise your character if that sort of thing tickles your fancy. The ball physics seems ok; due to the general floaty nature of the game, precise shots are not really an option but you can bounce off the walls pretty accurately.

Bubble Bash is a great game that has enough action to reel you in and keep you hooked.