Puzzle Bobble Evolution

Puzzle Bobble has long been one of the most addictive and competitive puzzle games on the mobile circuit.

However generally speaking, the only trouble with the well known titles is that game manufacturers can get a little lax and a brilliant brand can start becoming a bit of a let down. Fortunately, I’m glad to report that unlike quite a few of those games which have managed to lose some of their magic, Puzzle Bobble Evolution is still as addictive and challenging as ever!

For Puzzle Bobbler’s young and old alike, it’s a return to form of the classic connect and pop style arcade puzzle game. Armed with colourful bubbles, you must try and match three or more together to cause them to burst and to receive points. All the original elements have been kept such as the cute graphics and simplistic controls and design. As importantly however, the game’s given all the familiar things a twist.

You have the special bubbles which all have interesting effects in the game. The ‘star bubble’ will erase all bubbles of the colour you hit it with, ‘black hole bubble’ will suck in all bubbles around it, ‘shockwave bubble’ pops a whole line of bubbles, ‘comet bubble’ destroys all bubbles it connects with.

The ‘satellite bubble’ can’t be burst but can allow other bubbles to stick with it, and lastly, in quick play mode the ‘question mark bubble’ will cause a random event when hit during play.

You have two types of game to play and enjoy. The quick game is where you must try and pop as many bubbles as possible as they slowly descend from the top of the screen. You score points for every bubble you burst and there are plenty of power-up bubbles for you to use to your advantage. The only difficult thing is that the bubbles will move faster in their advances as the levels go up, and you lose the game as soon as the bubbles pass a line near the bottom of the screen.

The alternative game play is the explore mode where you get to play a variety of levels, from auto-aim canon (which spins left to right and you must try to judge when to fire), one shot mode (where you must clear the level in one go) and loads more besides.

In truth, Bubble Bobble Evolution’s just the job for anyone with a few minutes to spare. The only word of warning is that once you start you’ll find it hard to stop – so be prepared to live as a recluse for the next couple of days solid if you get bitten by the ‘bubble’ bug.

Rating 80%

Positives

Puzzle Bobble’s the perfect puzzle action arcade game for anyone

Good graphics

You can explore anywhere and unlock more levels as you go

Highly addictive

Negatives

Poor sounds

Could have been a bit more inventive in some of the challenges

Quite repetitive