Puzzle Bobble Universe (Nintendo 3DS) Review

The world of Puzzle Bobble features two classic Bubble Dragons, Bub and Bob, that are most famous for their exploits in the 1980s arcade release Bubble Bobble. Rather than a platform romp, however, the puzzle off-shoot revolves around the ‘three-of-a-kind’ matching mechanic, with a selection of different coloured bubbles appearing at the top of the screen and the player being tasked with moving the arrow at the bottom of the screen in the appropriate direction to fire off whatever coloured bubble is next on the list towards the one above in the hope of creating a chain of three or more same-shaded objects. The premise is insanely simple, yet when executed by the Kings of Arcade, Taito, the formula becomes superbly addictive.

In this iteration, Puzzle Bobble Universe, the cute little dragon brothers stumble across an unmanned spacecraft, only to find it is nothing more than a trap and Bob subsequently gets captured by a large boss creature. It is up to Bub to not only rescue his sibling, but prevent all the bubbles that have spilled forth from doors on surrounding planets turning into hazardous space debris that could damage inhabitants of the universe.

There are a paltry two modes available in Puzzle Bobble Universe, Puzzle and Challenge. The former follows the storyline, with players taking Bub through eight worlds, each consisting of ten standard stages, one rescue level where keys must be acquired, and a boss battle where bombs can be rapidly launched at the current foe. Here there are three levels of power-up at your disposal, in addition to regular bubble bursting, such as a laser beam to blast away some bubbles or an icon that changes all surrounding bubbles to the same colour for ease of clearing. The Challenge mode focuses solely on non-stop action, with three trials available - 100-sec. Bubbles, 300-sec. Bubbles, and Nonstop Bubbles, all of which merely involve clearing more and more bubbles under time limits, or simply until you die. In Challenge there is also the opportunity to use ‘Gimmick Bubbles’ to add a little spice to proceedings, with icons that can shunt blocks of bubbles in certain directions, or even blow up obstacles within a certain radius. The fun is short-lived, though.

The sad matter of fact with Puzzle Bobble Universe is that it lacks all the additional content poured into 2009’s Puzzle Bobble Galaxy on DS, even going as far as removing the touch-screen control mechanic that worked so well in the past (especially in the first Bust-a-Move DS). In fact, there is not even any form of multiplayer content included, not even a two-player option, local wireless or otherwise. Whilst the Lancarse-developed Puzzle Bobble Galaxy introduced mini-games, two-to-four player Wi-Fi play and even a shop where all sorts of extras could be purchased using accumulated points, a year-and-a-half later it seems that the new outfit, Arika, has either not handled the project well enough, or was simply not given sufficient time to ensure Puzzle Bobble Universe for Nintendo 3DS received enough care and attention. Puzzle Bobble Hamlet might have been a more apt title, in all honesty. What is still a highly enjoyable game at its core is ultimately crippled by its lack of enticement to come back and frequently play again and again.