Super Bust-A-Move

"The scary baby is not only on the cover of the actual game case, it's also on the front of the disc and the instructions as well...marketing! Meeting!"

OPENING STATEMENT
I’m a sucker for a good deal. So, when I found Super Bust-a-Move for twenty bucks new, I headed over to the store as fast as I could, and snapped it up. Granted this was the first day of the week long sale, and there were still twenty or so copies in the store, but hurrying always helps. Anyway, I bought the game, returned home, popped the DVD-Rom into my PlayStation 2 and was overwhelmed with a rush of nostalgia that I had not seen since my parents had come across TV Land while channel surfing, one past E! and right before the Disney Channel.

GAMEPLAY--9
If Alexei Pajitnov had not invented Tetris, Bust-a-Move would be the single most addictive puzzling game in the world. The objective of this puzzling game is as follows. Simply match-up three bubbles of the same color to pop them. When all of the bubbles are popped, you win. Trying to pop more than three at a time always helps. In Bust-a-Move, you lose if the ever growing string of bubbles crosses below a line near the bottom of the screen before you can pop them. This basic gameplay concept has not changed since the series debuted back on the Super Nintendo and the original black and white Game Boy.

Of course, Taito has not been sitting on their laurels the entire time. Some significant changes have been made as the series is now in it’s sixth console incarnation. Rainbow Bubbles are now part of the game, besides the colored bubbles. When you break a string of bubbles that surrounds a Rainbow Bubble, the Rainbow Bubble changes to the color of the popped bubble string, be it silver, orange, blue, black, red, green, purple, or yellow. (I had to sneak the color list in there sometime.) Luckily Taito was smart enough to include the aspect that when you finish off a color, no more bubbles of that color will be lined up to be put into play, unless of course there is a bubble of that color already in the on-deck circle before you pop that final string. Luckily, and might I add that it is about time, Taito has made the walls not always stick, so you can bounce unwanted bubbles off a wall and below the line, out of play. Bubbles can go beneath the line as long as they are not connected to any others in a string.

Taito has also included tiny bubbles. These bubbles expand once they reach their target. All that they really allow you to do is occasionally get a bubble into a tight spot where you normally could not. This is not quite as helpful as it sounds, though, because they are more difficult than other bubbles to aim.

Now, also, blocks are there to impede your progress. Some blocks simply bounce around the bubbles. But most blocks become part of the game like the Rainbow Bubbles do. When you pop the string next to these blocks, they fall down to the ground and out of play. There are also some bubbles with Lightning Bolts in them. If you can pop one of these, a whole bunch of bubbles will simultaneously pop, which can help you a lot in tight situations. Lastly, some levels have conveyor belts. These belts can change the trajectory of the ball, so aiming becomes more difficult, but these belts also allow you to get bubbles into places you might not be able to.

The most important new addition to the gameplay, though, was the addition of characters that actually do something. Each of the characters has a different attack pattern. This attack pattern is really only used in the Versus Modes, be it against a live opponent or against the computer. But, there are another type of characters that are important. In some levels in the Single Player Mode, you will see characters encased in a colored bubble. If you hit that giant bubble with a bubble of the same color, it will pop, and you will free the character inside. Sadly, those characters are not playable, but freeing them is still an accomplishment. Also, you need to free them anyway to finish off the level.

GRAPHICS--8
Well, Super Bust-a-Move looks better than Gradius III and IV, which is not saying a whole lot, but is still true. But, if you think about it, Super Bust-a-Move is a puzzle game. How good of graphics does it need? It may not have the impressive three-dimensional graphics of Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec or Zone of the Enders, but in its own right, Super Bust-a-Move is graphically wonderful. The two-dimensional graphics are filled with flawless, completely fluid animation. The character’s movements are better than anything you can ever see in a Japanese anime movie, or on the Cartoon Network. The bubbles do not bump and jerk as they sail across the screen, they sail the smooth seas of a bright sunny day on the Gulf of Mexico.

The coloring is bright and vibrant, creating an atmosphere of fun and happiness. These colors match the cute-looking characters to a tee. Pastels are the main color choice, but there are some bright colors, like the colors you are taught in preschool, as well. This coloring, though, stands out well against the dark colored, partially (and intentionally) drab backgrounds, creating a great effect that makes everything easy to see.

MUSIC--7
SOUND--9
To be perfectly honest, I really did not listen to the music while playing Super Bust-a-Move. I played the game more and more, I just never really heard it. Which means it obviously was not bad, or it would have made my ears scream for mercy, but it was not spectacular either. So, when I came to this section in my review, I realized that the music had really escaped me. So, I returned to my PlayStation 2, played the game a little, and listened very carefully for the music. And I finally heard it. Frankly, it fits in well with the childlike graphics. The music is all happy, bouncy, and fun. It is hardly the powerful melodies that you would hear in a Final Fantasy or a Suikoden game, but, gloomy tunes like that would hardly fit in with Super Bust-a-Move. On their own, the tunes are completely average, but they fit in well with the game in and of itself. As long as you do not waste money on a soundtrack, you are fine.

The sound effects, though, I did notice, and I found them to be very good. The noises of the bubbles popping sounds quite amusing, and you will probably never tire of hearing it, which is good because you will sure be hearing it a lot. The menu noises, once again, are adequate on their own, but excellent when you fit them in with the rest of the pieces of the Super Bust-a-Move puzzle. The rest of the noises also work well with the graphics and the music, to create a great superficial base for Super Bust-a-Move to utilize to its full potential.

CONTROL--8
Super Bust-a-Move may be the only game on the face of the earth in which learning to control well is the key to the entire game. If you have a talent for aiming the bubbles well, you will succeed in all games in the Bust-a-Move universe, assuming Lady Luck gives you bubbles that you can use well. In the first level, and each level after you continue, in Single Player Mode, there will be little guide dots that will show where the bubble will end up. Take advantage of these when they appear, and use them to the full advantage that they present. Not only do they tell you where the bubbles will go in that level, they help teach you how to aim better for levels down the line. And aiming is by far and away the name of the game in Super Bust-a-Move.

FUN--10
Super Bust-a-Move is an immensely fun game, whether you are playing alone or with friends. I wish that Taito would have included Multitap support as well, because four player Super Bust-a-Move matches would have been great fun. Even with two players, though, friends and family members will have a great time battling wits with you, and getting more and more frustrated as you do better and better. Because, not only will you be doing well, but you will be hurling things onto their screen. That is the significance of the attack pattern. When you do good, you ‘attack’ their puzzle, throwing on bubbles or blocks, depending on what your attack pattern was. This not only confuses them and lowers their confidence, it makes their puzzle more difficult, and strings of bubbles get longer and longer. And then the trash talking can begin. Yes, Super Bust-a-Move is more fun with other players, but it is still loads of fun alone. So, go and buy it even if you do not have anyone you can play this puzzling masterpiece with.

CHALLENGE--MEDIUM TO HIGH
Super Bust-a-Move is by no means an easy game. In the Single Player Mode, you can get to the third or fourth row of letters without trouble, but after that, the going gets tough, and patience becomes your biggest virtue. Sometimes, you simply cannot get the bubble you need. This has caused me to lose more than a few matches, both in single player and multiplayer, but experienced Bust-a-Move players learn to simply grin and bear it. Also, the puzzles themselves get substantially harder as you progress through. Puzzles are filled with more special bubbles and blocks. Conveyor belts become more prevalent. And once you get in the ‘H’ or ‘I’ puzzles, if you have not learned to aim well, you are through with progressing. So, get the hang of aiming in Practice Mode first!

REPLAY VALUE--HIGH
So far, Super Bust-a-Move may be the best party game for the PlayStation 2. Still, the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast are killing the PlayStation 2 in this department. You would not believe the rivalries that can form over a simple, yet addicting, puzzle game. I myself have played through the Single Player Mode multiple times, taking a different path each time, to experience all of the different puzzles. Besides the Normal Mode that I have been talking about, there is also a Classic Mode. Classic Mode is very fun to play over and over again as well, as it takes all of the best puzzles from Bust-a-Move games past. And there are some really, really good puzzles in there. On top of it all, you have the multiplayer capabilities. You simply cannot stop playing Super Bust-a-Move. Ever.

PROS
*Very fluid animation, even for a next-generation system.
*Improves and adds to classic Bust-a-Move gameplay.
*May be in your PlayStation 2 more than any other game, with the possible exception of Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec.

CONS
*Graphics probably could have been done on the Super Nintendo.
*Aiming can be difficult for beginners.
*Music is certainly nothing to write home about.

CLOSING STATEMENT
Super Bust-a-Move is a great puzzle game. Granted there are a few things that would have been nice to add, like being able to create your own puzzles and a few more multiplayer capabilities, but, on its own, it is one of the best PlayStation 2 games thus far. See if you can find it for a bargain like I did. It is well worth the search, and it will be worth the search until a better puzzle game is released for the PlayStation 2. And that probably will not happen until Taito has developed a sequel for Acclaim to publish.

OVERALL--9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/23/01, Updated 07/23/01