Bubble Bobble
Reviewed by Rocky
When the NES came out it was the best system out there. No more would
people be spending hours putting coins on an arcade machine and standing
there to play. Now everyone could finally have a system at home! No doubt
that the NES was a great success, with great games to back it up too...For
RPG lovers we had Final Fantasy and Zelda, platformers had Mario and
others, but puzzle lovers were a bit short on something. Sure, there was
Dr. Mario, but one valid title is not enough, so in came this Bubble Bobble,
a game that seriously has no equals today in his genre.
Graphics: 4 out of 5
The graphics were not the strong points of the game. They consisted of
one or two dinosaurs( depending on the number of players) and some
enemies, all levels were with stale backgrounds composed of two or
three lines to delimite an area. Not even the graphical effects were
that much, with some bubbles that shot out of the dinosaurs' mouth,
trapping the enemies and then popping them to death. Even though
Bubble Bobble was not 3d, the frame rate of the game suffered heavily
because of all the bubbles on the screen. Sometimes, when there where
too many bubbles on screen, it became hard to control your character,
and the enemies seemed to fly in mid-air. When the bubbles went away,
everything unexplainably fastened up and sometimes I died without even
knowing why. The character animations were perfect, with the dinosaurs
moving their eyes and jumping when they had completed a level. All
around an impeccable work, except for the frame rate.
Music and Sound: 3 out of 5
The music was not very much to listen at. Sure, the music was
catchy and all, but it never changed! There are like 100 levels and
the music was always the same! This was probably due to the fact
that when you completed a level, the screen did not blank out to
go on to the next level, you simply were transported downwards
by a bubble, allowing the screen to scroll down. And the music
never changed. Disastrous. The sound effects are what you'd expect
from a cute cartoony game...BOINGS and SWISHES and all sorts of
wacky sounds that were perfectly tuned to the wacky characters
and wacky backgrounds. Neat indeed.
Game Challenge: 4 out of 5
The game was hard indeed. I mean, if you get a singular level and
play it, well, thats not that hard, but if you imagine that you have
to pass 100+ levels with just a handful of lives, well, that's
something else. There are different types of enemies, each with
their own running pattern. When there's only one enemies on the
screen, that enemies becomes red and gets even wilder than before,
and yours is the hardous task to catch it. Definitely hard for the
newbies, after you play it a couple of times it will get easier,
but not much.
Game Play-Fun: 5 out of 5
BOY, was this fun! Even though the high challenge level and the
great number of levels, you never would get tired to control
these cute dinosaurs that shoot bubbles and that trap enemies
within them. The play mechanic is simple but fun. You choose a
dinosaur, either blue or green, and you start your quest through
the levels. There are many enemies in every level, and your job
is to shoot bubbles from your mouth and trap the critters inside.
Once inside, they will start floating through the level undisturbed.
If you leave them alone for a couple of seconds, the bubble will
pop and they will be free again. So after they're inside the bubble
you have to touch them to make them pop and disappear forever.
When all enemies but one are destroyed, that pesky rat will become
red and will run faster than usual. After you get rid of the last of
the monsters, you go on to the next level until the end of the game.
Nothing terribly complicated, but it's darn fun when you get into it.
Definitely the best point of the game.
Frustration
OK. I admit that this game can get a LITTLE frustrating on the long run.
How many times has it been when I've reached the 99th level and then
wasted my last life in a silly matter? GRRRRR. Yes, sometimes the
frustration level is terribly high, and you might be tempted to get
the cartridge and throw it out the window, but most of the time is
game is too fun to let that happen. Finally, there is no frustration at
all when you play in coop with a friend. The one player mode is awesome,
but can you imagine what fun it is to play with a friend through all
those levels? simply undescribable
Replayability: 3 out of 5
Not much to do after you've beaten it once, but a lot of time will
pass since that happens. After you beat it, I'll doubt you'll replay
it again, no matter how fun it is. The same can't be said about the
multiplayer mode! Even if you've beaten it a thousand times, that
mode never gets boring. You'll replay it over and over and over and
over....non stop!
Game Value: 5 out of 5
It IS definitely worth the price, especially today that you can find
it at a very cheap price, since it has its years. If you find it, you
should buy it, it was worth its money 10 years ago, its worth it
now. Go buy it!
Overall: 9 out of 10
One of the best puzzle-action games of the decade. No one compares
to the fun and the replayability in multiplayer of this game. Sure the
graphics and sound are outdated, but who cares? Go buy this right
away for nice, old-school fun.