Friday 08 Aug 2008

It is a sad fact that puzzle games don’t sell by using any kind of hype. They have basically got to be supreme at what they do – they’ve got to play like a dream. Soul Bubbles does just that, but it looks and sounds like a dream as well. A very peculiar dream…involving a naked baby with lungs like bellows. Don’t ask.

It is very difficult to describe this game, kind of a cross between Loco Roco and Lost Winds. The aim is to use the stylus to blow a spirit-filled bubble through a maze from point “A” to “B.” Despite the early stages being very simplistic it does gradually up the difficulty curve, forcing you to think differently. By pressing “up” on the D-pad it allows you to draw circles with your stylus, creating bubbles, and doing this traps certain elements within the bubble.

At the beginning of a stage you have to draw a circle around the spirits straight away and then start blowing the bubble in the direction intended by guiding the stylus in the desired direction. The bubble basically acts as protection to spirits, but if they are attacked by enemies and dislodged from the bubble then you can just redraw a circle around them. If you get to a dead-end with fire in front of you then you just need to draw a circle in a pool of water to trap the water within it. Push the bubble towards the fire and once it touches the bubble bursts, dropping the water on the fire. Clever? Yes, it makes you feel VERY clever – always a good sign of a great puzzler!

You do have more abilities and acquiring power masks grant you these. It provides you with the power to split, join or deflate bubbles. If you happen to approach a narrow space split the bubble into 5 or 6 and squeeze through without any hassle. Once past, join them all and off you go.

Adding to the already spectacular play is the beautiful designed sound and visuals. Rarely do games requiring this much thought provide such lush surroundings. The latter stages can become quite difficult, but if you are into puzzle games it should be part of the overall challenge in any case. This is quite simply one of the best DS games for the DS I’ve played in ages – even if it does star a naked baby.

A cracking action puzzler that proves we don’t need mindless violence to have a good time.

Rating:
Contributor:	Dawid

Purchase: