Bubble Heroes
It's not exactly Puzzle Bobble, but it's every bit as good.
2000-11-08
Taito's original Puzzle Bobble (also known as Bust-A-Move) has turned into quite a phenomenon. Numerous sequels has been made for almost every platform. As I write this, the PlayStation 2-version is about to be released. And even though it's running on the most powerful games machine in the world, I'll bet it plays just like the old versions. The series is all about gameplay. As Taito never released Puzzle Bobble for the Amiga, our Italian friends Arcadia Developments has created Bubble Heroes. There are some differences and improvements over the original games, but luckily the fun is still here. For those of you not familiar with these kind of games, let's take a quick explanation. You take control of a mechanical wheel at the bottom of the screen. The wheel can be rotated to aim at different places on the playfield. On the playfield lies different colored bubbles, which your goal is to destroy. This is done by shooting new, equal colored bubbles into the existing bubbles. When three or more bubbles of the same color touches each other, they all explode. Bubble Heroes has two main modes: VS and Story. In VS mode you play a single one-on-one match against the computer or a friend. The goal is to cause the opponent's bubbles to fall down the baseline. By exploding your own bubbles, a meter rises. When the meter is full, you can use your special ability to trash your opponent. You can play Bubble Heroes as either the hero, the cat-girl or the ... eh... frog-thing. Each has different abilities, which can be used in VS-battles. In the Story mode you have to complete four worlds of twelve levels. Ten of these levels are just your standard Puzzle Bobble-style action. In the final level you take on the boss of the world in a VS-battle match. The remaining level is the most original element of Bubble Heroes. It's basically just a variaton on the normal levels, where you can select what color bubble you want to shoot. Combined with a few other things, this creates a totally fresh approach to the genre. As the title suggest, the Story mode also features a story. This is displayed with dialogue between your hero and opponents and friends along the way. This is also a nice addition. Obviously, the graphics in Bubble Heroes are "simple" 2d-stuff. But it all looks very nice and polished. All characters are done in a Japan-inspired manga-style, that really suits the game. According to the developers, the game should run at a rock-steady 60 frames per second. I believe this is not quite the case with the RTG-version, which is somewhat disappointing. The game runs in a standard 320x240 resolution, but I'd think that it could have been done in a nicer 640x480. I can't remember a single puzzle-game, that had memorable sounds. Bubble Heroes is no different. The game features 25 CDDA tracks, that all sounds neat, but pretty anonymous. The music suits the game, but it's really nothing to rave about. However the title theme sounds strange and very much old-style. The different effects are as they should be. An annoying detail is, that you apparently have to select your CD-device and unit everytime the game is started. As mentioned earlier, these kind of games are all about gameplay. So how does Bubble Heroes fare against Puzzle Bobble? First off it's much harder. Even the first few levels are pretty hard for beginners and it took me a couple of tries to complete the first world. As there's no way of continuing from a completed world at a later time, I believe it's going to be quite a task to complete the game. This is not helped by the fact, that random events plays a big part in the game. The colors of the bubbles you get, often decides everything. Say a level where a line of red bubbles block the rest. If it takes twenty bubbles before you get a red one, you're pretty much out of luck. But if you happen to get it early, the level is just a piece of cake. Although not problematic, the aiming is also somewhat different from the original games. Puzzle Bobble is foregiving on your bad eyesight and often helps the gamer, by adjusting the angle a few pixels. In Bubble Heroes you just have to aim completely exact. This is not to say that this is bad - it's just harder. Overall Bubble Heroes plays a lot like Puzzle Bobble. There are some differences, a few fresh ideas and the game is harder. But the excellent gameplay hasn't changed. Bubble Heroes is just the kind of game that you can always pick up and get a few hours of addictive puzzle-action. It's certainly not the most revolutionary or memorable game for the Amiga, but it's all great and comes very recommended if you like the genre.
Rune J. Keller
Graphics
The ingame graphics are very nice, cute and polished. The manga-style cutscenes fits the game very well. The graphics may be simple by todays standards, but it certainly fulfills its purpose.
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8.0
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Sound
Just typical puzzle-sound. The music is anonynmous (as it should be), the effects does their job and the voices are nice. But I don't like the title theme at all.
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6.5
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Gameplay
This is where Bubble Heroes shines. It can be picked up time and time again for a quick play.
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8.5
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Overall
Since we never got a Puzzle Bobble for the Amiga, this is a very good substitute. It even throws in a few new ideas, that work really well. Definetly recommendable.
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8.0
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Info
Title
Bubble Heroes
Official site
N/A
Publisher
Crystal Interactive
Developer
Arcadia
Genre
Puzzle
Release
00/10
No. of players
1-2
Supports
AGA,
020,
4MB Fast Ram
Requires
Graphics card (040 and 8MB Ram required)
Tested on
060 50MHz,
CVisionPPC 8MB,
128MB Ram
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Pictures
Bubble Heroes is perfect for kicking your friends.
Gupochi frees the first fairie.
The three bubble heroes ready to face their evil opponent.
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