Soul Bubbles Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 11th August 2008

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This bubbly puzzle game pops on to the DS.

Soul Bubbles Details:

	Puzzle
	Nintendo DS
	Eidos
	Eidos

TBA

Out Now

N/A

The Nintendo DS has brought a lot of unique and innovative titles to gamers since its release and it looks like Eidos has brought us one such game with their latest puzzle title Soul Bubbles, and after not expecting too much from the game I was presently surprised.

Soul Bubbles puts you in the role of a young apprentice shaman who is charged with guiding lost souls safety to the gates that will take them to the after world by creating protective bubbles around them and moving them through hazardous environments and avoiding evil spirits that will try and take them.

As mentioned above you are able to create bubbles around lost souls in order to protect them, you then blow these bubbles around the games environments guiding the souls to gates that allow them to move to the next world. Blowing the bubbles is controlled by simply sliding the stylus in the direction you want shaman to blow the bubbles. Moving it slowly across the touchpad will make your shaman gently blow the bubble whilst moving it quickly will make him blow it with more force. This is a very good system that allows for very accurate yet easy to master movement controls.

As you move around the games various treacherous environments you will come across various obstacles you won’t be able to pass, luckily your shaman has some very useful abilities in order for you to proceed to your destination. Your shaman can cut and deflate bubbles making it easier for you to squeeze your lost souls through tight corridors. All the shaman’s abilities are accessed via the d-pad, allowing you to easily select the action relevant to the current challenge.

Levels themselves are fairly simple offering a fairly easy challenge especially in the earlier stages, this is mainly due to you being guided around the various environments by a trail of stardust that leads to the end of the level, it would have been far more of a challenge if this had not been done, but you have to keep in mind that the game is aimed at a younger audience.

The challenge does pick up as you progress, through sadly not really enough to push those looking for a challenging puzzle game. Enemies also provide little challenge, as a simple tap is often all that is required to dispose of them, although they do get tougher and require you to utilise your shaman’s other skills as you progress through the games various worlds.

Once you have completed a level, you can play it over again and try to beat your score, which is based on how many souls you saved how much stardust you collected and if you found Calabash. Calabash is found hidden in various levels and collecting it helps boost your score. You also have to collect enough of it in order to unlock the games final world.

Visually the games been done with a cartoon styling and looks pretty good, the game is bright and colourful and everything fits in perfectly with the game innovative gameplay. Sound is exactly what you would expect from a DS puzzle game with fairly quirky music and sound effects that fit in well with the on-screen action.

Overall Soul Bubbles may not be the most challenging puzzle game available for the DS. However, it does still offer a fun playing experience due to its innovative approach and the various abilities available to your character which adds quite a lot of variety. On the whole a great addition to the DS puzzle genre!