Bubble Bobble Revolution

"A major disappointment"

First of all: I like remakes. I´m far away from these guys, who are telling you, that back in time games were better and more enjoyable. But it´s also true, that I´m an old-timer and that the original Bubble Bobble (especially the conversion for C64 and Amiga) is my favorite game of the 80-ies. So, I was quite excited, when my eyes and my fingers grabbed the brand-new ´Bubble Bobble Revolution´. Maybe, my expectations were a little bit to high... but maybe this remake is nearly crap and the only reason, why this cartridge gets an average 5/10, is that the original version was implemented...

On the first sight, nothing is wrong with BB Revolution: You can play the same cute characters as twenty years ago, you can jump, you can spit bubbles and you fetch even more cute monsters with them. Dead enemies swirl through the whole screen and convert into some fruit or even a diamond, to raise your high-score by collecting it.

The original concept was sadly stripped down to these elements. Nearly every extra-item was cut out, this means: no giant fruits, no running shoes, no ice cream, no umbrella, no crowns, no fireballs, no flooding screens, etc. The only exceptions are the thunder, water and fire bubbles, which will float in some levels eventually through the screen. With them, you can kill monsters out of your reach, f.e. on the ground beneath you or behind a thick wall. One new extra was added, which is maybe the best part in the whole game: the ghost-bubble. Fetch it and a ghost character of yours appears on the other screen your actually standing. Press a button and your position will change with the ghost one. Some levels are playing with this feature, but it isn´t enough to build up some motivation.

Another new feature is the big bubble, which you have to produce by yourself. Press the fire-button only a bit longer than usual and you can fetch up to four enemies in one bubble. I don´t want to spoil, but to give a small hint: this technique is very important to open the gate to the last ten (of one hundred) stages.

Now for the disappointments First of all, the playability is not good. For example: The character is jumping more up- than forwards. In the original Bubble Bobble, you could jump right through a lot of platforms, but here, our cute fella blocks on a lot of walls, where it doesn´t feel right. Furthermore, you can fall right through a platform from up to down, thanks to a bug. And at last, to use a bubble as a trampoline is quite annoying, because you have to jump on the middle of it. By landing on the edge, the bubble will simply burst.

Also, the level-design is very boring, repetitive and confusing. You can see everything from up to down (thanks to the double-screen), but not from left to right. A lot of the monsters (nearly all of them old friends from the original) are moving to fast, so you can prevent every loss of energy.

The graphics lacks of contrast: in some cases, you can´t see the difference between back- and foreground. This affects another new element of the remake: the fan/ventilator. If you are able to spot one, blow into the DS-microphone and it will be activated. Like the ghost-bubbles, this is a neat idea, because you can force bubbles to move into other directions. But sadly, the design doesn´t use the feature very often, too.

Another place, where the fans appears, is the bonus-room. Here you have to prevent three bubbles from falling towards the spiked ground. Under every bubble lies a fan, which can be activated by touching on it. Only one fan can be activated at the same time, but even under this rule, the mini-game is ridiculously easy. In my case, the bubbles never felt a quarter of the allowable distance, because you only have to touch the three fans within the rhythm of the music and till the time ends.

Some more details are trying to save the game, but it doesn´t work. You can get two new characters after beating the game two times, but they don´t add anything. They are a bit faster or there bubbles have a higher scope, but the game itself doesn´t change, so it becomes meaningless to play ´Bubble Bobble Revolution´ again.

And what´s about multi-player, the highlight of the original? It´s very frustrating, but this is by far the worst part of the remake:

1) You can only play ten stages.

2) There is no Co-Op, you always have to fight against each other about points.

3) You can´t beat every monster, because they are re-spawning. A match ends, when the time limit is over.

4) You can lose a life, like in the single-player game. But in that case, you lose ALL your points. This is like a racing game, where you get right to start after having three crashes.

The only positive thing is, that you can play up to four players at the same time, but this doesn´t save the awful game-concept und design.

Conclusion: Nearly every aspect, that made ´Bubble Bobble´ to one hell of a game, was ripped apart. The playability is bad, the amount of extras is a joke and the multi-player is even worse. As I said in the beginning: If it wasn´t for the original game, which is playable as an alternative to the remake-crap, the score would be around 3/10.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/06