Review: Super Bubble Pop
If Tetris, Columns, and Bust-A-Move didn?t do it for you, perhaps this 3D spin on puzzle games will.
Super Bubble Pop plays like a 3D hybrid of Columns and Bust-A-Move but without the ease of gameplay. Players shoot bubbles down a grid, stacking and eliminating three or more of the same color. If you can clear the grid (most puzzles have potential quick solutions) or collect all the level tokens, you move up a level. Otherwise, the puzzle creeps ever closer. Power-ups boost your offense?you can flip or freeze columns of bubbles, swap colors, set off earthquakes, and more. Each character also has a massive and unique special attack (including big explosions and crushing the puzzle under a sheet of plastic wrap), but you still have to be really quick to succeed. Visually, the game is beyond arresting?it?s nearly epileptic. The too-psychedelic acid-wash visuals, globular shiny text fonts, and repetitious European rave soundtrack give the game an air of forced, false hipness, although it?s nice to be able to create a custom playlist as well as choose the look of the bubbles (why settle for boring solid colors if you can make them all into fruit or billiard balls?).
The puzzle mechanics prove both difficult and unusual, which is as much a boon as a curse; the way the game taxes your mind isn?t necessarily enjoyable, and many times you?ll find yourself falling back to simple tactics just to survive, instead of creating elaborate, elegant combos. Serious puzzle fans might like the unusual challenge, but casual players needn?t stop for Pop.
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