|
As
it goes, there aren’t that many Puzzle games on the Xbox, and the
main two that are, Puyo Pop and Ultra Bust-a-Move, are
on pretty much every platform available. However, having stared as
an
Arcade
game, Puzzle Bobble has had fifteen console incarnations,
ending-up with Ultra Bust-a-Move, the first of the series to
be released on the Xbox.
Ultra
Bust-a-Move follows a fairly simple concept. The player can
choose which parts of Levels to complete, in that the Levels are
staggered alphabetically – A and B in the first Level, C, D, E and
F in the next, and so on, completing one lettered Zone containing
five Rounds each. As the player progresses through Levels, the next
Level choices are affected, with a different choice of Zones, which
is actually quite easy to understand once it’s put into practice!
Also
alluringly easy is the Control Set-Up, as the only controls needed
are the Left Analogue Stick to aim the cannon through which you fire
the bubbles, and the A Button with which you fire. This, however,
doesn’t detract from the game – in fact, it helps to increase
the simplistic charm of Ultra Bust-a-Move, making it quite a
lot of fun to play.
The
main idea behind this, and every other, version of Puzzle Bobble and
Ultra Bust-a-Move is to fire multicoloured Bubbles to attach
to Bubbles of the same colour, making rows of three or more which
then disappear – reaching the goal of getting rid of all the
Bubbles. However, the player must aim carefully, as other coloured
Bubbles can be misfired and will stick to the first other Bubble
they come into contact with - blocking the one aimed for. Also, for  every
seven Bubbles released, the field drops a Level towards the bottom.
If the Bubbles go below the line at the bottom, the game is lost.
There
are also five new puzzle layouts within the regular gameplay mode,
as well as entirely new game modes including Seesaw, in which the
player must keep the Bubble-Field Level, Colour, where the player
gets Points for hitting the designated colour, and Count, in which
only dropped Bubbles count to earn Points.
Adding
to the fun is the inclusion of twelve characters other than the
originals Bub and Bob (from Bubble
Bobble), and the bonus characters who can be earned through
completing the Challenges, such as through the VS. Challenge, where
the player plays either another player or the Xbox. New characters
are, obviously, showing more variety, with new ‘funky’ designs
and names – like Ms. Killer, a Ninja-costumed cartoon girl, and
Boggy, who looks more like a bug than a bog. A nice feature of these
new characters is that on every type of game available, games can be
saved – the only problem being if the player uses more than one
character to play as, it can be hard to remember how far you’ve
played on each character!
Ultra
Bust-a-Move, being the first Puzzle Bobble release for
the Xbox, supports XboxLIVE!, which means that the player can
compete against other players from anywhere in the world and rack-up
ridiculously high scores.
Ultra
Bust-a-Move does have some potentially displeasing features,
however. For example, the background music, whilst fun, catchy,  and
extremely hum-able can detract from the task in-hand – that
is, actually firing Bubbles rather than humming. The same could also
be said for the circular scrolling backgrounds, which are a bit of a
distraction until used to them. On the other hand, though, they do
add to the fun of the game, and to be honest, it’s not that hard
to pay attention to the Bubbles!
The
only other tooth-grinding moment is at the beginning of each game,
at which a quirky Japanese-accented lady says “Ready? GO!”
Although this in itself is not particularly frustrating, the
accompanying graphic can be a little disorientating for the fans of
smooth transitions. The word “GO” appears across the screen, and
unlike any other graphic in the game, has a “my graphics are
catching-up with my memory” quality, whereby it leaves parts of
itself on the screen. Granted, this wouldn’t be a problem if all
the same type of lettering had that effect, but as it is the only
part, the player may be left wondering whether it is actually just a
glitch.
On
the whole, though, the graphics are very well arranged, with good
use of colour and effects, and added interest due to the three
different graphic styles used – pixelated 3D characters, smooth
cartoon backgrounds, and old-school style writing.
Although
the music can be a slight distraction, in which case the sound can
always be turned-off, it is a nice touch that it changes on every
Level, ranging between some very strange and varied tunes. Another
clever feature is that as the Bubbles reach the bottom of the Arena,
the music speeds-up to either alert you or chivvy you along! As was  mentioned
earlier, the music is very catchy and bouncy, and, if you like music
with your games, there’s not much to disappoint aurally.
Although
Ultra Bust-a-Move is definitely not a new concept when
compared to its forerunners of the same series, and doesn’t do
anything remarkably different or innovative, neither does it claim
to. For a simple, yet fun and effective Arcade game to play in the
peace and sobriety of your own home, and providing you like your
graphics bold, your music bouncy, and your games quirky, you can’t
go far wrong with Ultra Bust-a-Move.
|
