Super Bust-A-Move

The Good
Just new levels and features akin to Puzzle Bobble 3. You’ve seen it all and nothing else. The challenge of firing bubbles in cramped spaces that give very little room for certain angles implements at least some challenge into the game, I’ll give it that. Adding to the difficulty are the tiny bubbles which grow large on impact and the giant bubbles which can transform all bubbles in the field. Combined with everything else though, you’re in for a world of bad gaming.

The Bad
Graphically the game is hideous. If you’re accustomed to cute bubble dragons, what you see in the presentation in this game will give your eyeballs a shock. The characters look like they were drawn and coloured with a primitive Flash program. They’re not cute or colourful at all. Even Bub looks awful. The ugliest of them all is Pukadon, who as per his namesake vomits and when he gets some ecstasy at the end of each round, he lets out his…do I really need to spell it out? And then there is the official cover art showing a bubble blowing baby, which doesn’t give a great impression. Music is just some mediocre goo-goo tunes and none of the arcade Puzzle Bobble themes. To go with it are monotonous voicing and stock sounds.

As faithful as the game mechanics are to a standard Puzzle Bobble game, the pacing is slowed by the long loading times, which is ridiculous given that the main series loads levels instantly. And all those animations that play during each round serves only to distract the player, not adding to the gameplay. The bubble launcher and characters take up a lot of screen space, making it hard to aim and shoot your bubbles. There isn’t even the final boss Dreg to fight in any mode, so that tradition is gone.

The Bottom Line
How could a Puzzle Bobble game be so bad let alone terrible on the PlayStation 2? On newer consoles, players expect better graphics and features, not worse. It’s like Acclaim were going to as much effort as possible to make a game that puts a hole in the Puzzle Bobble series. This game cannot even live up to its title. It isn’t Super, it isn’t Arcade and there are no redeeming qualities anywhere. It's just a mish mash collage of poorly drawn images on a screen. Puzzle Bobble fans, beware of this one. The main series of Puzzle Bobble 1 to 4 is the only way to go, far away from this ugly title.