Soul Bubbles (Nintendo DS) - Review by Chris

Introduction

The DS' library isn't short of unique titles to play which make great use of technical abilities of the console. Since its launch, we've continued to see innovation when many thought there was little else which could be conceived with the touch screen and each time, we've marvelled at what has been created. Stepping up to try their hand at adding to the already unique library of titles is developer Mekensleep who've created the game Soul Bubbles, a charming take on the puzzle genre with a very unique twist to the gameplay. But is the game capable of blowing you away or does the bubble burst too quickly?

Gameplay

Soul Bubbles sees you taking to the role of a newly accepted spirit herder who is tasked with retrieving and saving the spirits contained within the game's 8 worlds. The game's story which hopes to propel you through the gameplay unfortunately falters at the first hurdle with your master providing you with little other context other than the wise words that you have to head out into the world and save the spirits from the dangers that exist. In some games, this would be a big drawback but both the simplicity and elegance of the gameplay more than make up for any missed opportunity for providing some contextual background for your endeavours.

Beginning your work as a spirit herder, you'll be taken through a tutorial to show you the workings of the unique gameplay on offer here. This tutorial suitably prepares you for what is to come in main crux of the game, even if only in a basic sense, by introducing you to the mechanics of moving a bubble around the level, collecting star dust and using the mask power-ups available to your character. Getting to grips with the mechanics of the bubble is a necessary part of the game and although the tutorial is short, you'll have to quickly learn the ins and outs of how it reacts to wind and objects in the environment.

With the tutorial aside, you'll enter into the main game, set across 8 worlds and providing 40 or so levels for you to play through. In each of these, you are tasked with collecting a group of spirits, which sit at the beginning of a level, and transporting them through the various terrains and puzzles to safety. To move the bubble through these levels, you'll make use of the touch screen to move your character freely to aim and then slide the stylus to increase the power of your blowing to send the bubble moving off in the desired direction. It seems like an incredibly simply gameplay mechanic, yet even through the tutorial and moving into the main game it can be tricky to master, with a slight learning curve repeating across each world as new and more dangerous hazards are introduced. As you make your character blow to move the bubble, it reacts in a realistic fashion, bending and rippling to the effects and at times, the levels will require you to push the bubbles through narrow passages with the bubbles themselves squashing to fit the gaps. Occasionally though, these passages are too narrow and this is where you'll need to make use of your mask powers to continue the progression or to find necessary items for level completion.

Available to you are three masks, each of which has a power attached to them. Through the tutorial, you'll become acquainted with the Tiger mask, which allows you to cut your bubble into smaller ones making it easier to blow them through narrow passages and also allowing you to cut away sticky plants and enemies which may latch on to your bubble. You also have access to a Bird mask, which allows you to draw new bubbles for collecting items or stalling enemies and later hazards such as hazardous gases, as well as an Elephant mask, which allows you to deflate the size of your bubble. These power-ups create an added element of puzzling to the progression through the levels as you'll need to make good use of all these power-ups to solve the puzzles and bring the spirits to safety.

With 40 levels to progress through, the difficulty and ingenuity of the later levels really extends the playtime of the game but you'll never be situated in one level for more than 10 minutes or so, meaning that progression through the overall game can be rather swift. At the end of each of the game's levels, a statistics screen is displayed showing you the amount of star dusts collected, how many spirits you've saved, your time for completion and a ranking for the level. These mark the game's attempt to provide some replay value but the reality is, it's never too hard to get the top rank for each of the levels on the first play and so there is little more to come back to once the game has been completed. But, even with this being the case, the calming approach to each of the levels and the ingenuity in the gameplay make it a worthwhile playthrough and will no doubt bring people to play single levels again as a way of relaxing.

Controls

Throughout its entirety, Soul Bubbles is controlled almost exclusively by way of the DS' touch screen. Using the stylus, you'll move your spirit herder around to change the direction of your aim and slide the stylus across the screen to increase the power of your blowing. It's a simple control setup which does take some getting used to as the touch screen isn't quite as accurate as it could be when translating your blowing and it's trajectory. There is some use of the face buttons, and depending on whether you are right or left handed you will use either the d-pad or the face buttons to change between the different mask powers accessible to your character.

Graphics

On a visual front, Soul Bubbles is a very good looking game. Making good use of the DS' 2D capabilities, the visuals exude a hand painted look which is pulled off flawlessly and all of the game's 40 or so levels show an extremely high level of detail as a result of the visual style used. The use of ambient movements in the visuals, such as plants and flowers blowing in the wind and trees similarly reacting to the wind and contact with the bubbles, further showcase the level of detail which has been put into designing the game's visuals.

Character models are represented in a mixture of both 2D and 3D yet neither particularly match the quality of the levels. The 3D is used sparingly, mainly for the spirit herder you'll control throughout the game, and lacks much in the way of detail being of a very basic standard but nonetheless, it manages to pull off a somewhat decent looking character. Similarly, the 2D is mainly used for the enemy character models during play and for still cutscenes outside of play and while the work is of a much better quality in the still cutscenes, the enemy models look very basic and do slightly feel out of sorts with the overall feel of the game. The bubbles, however, are the best of the 2D work moving with realistic physics to make a believable sight.

Sound

The game's audio doesn't take much of a prominent role in propelling the game forward and as such, it will perhaps be overlooked by many who play the game. Yet, while being understated, the music helps to create a calm and soothing atmosphere which complements the gameplay and visuals perfectly.

Dual screen

While there isn't much interconnectivity between the two screens, outside of being able to bring the map on the top screen down to the touch screen, both screens are used well in their own rights. The map on the top screen is helpful, although levels are never too complex that you'll get lost for more than a few seconds, and the touch screen is put to great use for controlling the actual game.

Final comments

Soul Bubbles is a very unique and interesting take on the puzzle genre, creating something completely unseen on the DS. The unique gameplay is complimented with beautiful visuals and a soothing soundtrack that make the experience a joy to play through, never frustrating rather always calming the player. The small issues which the game harbours are quickly overshadowed by these things with the only lasting issue being that once completed, there isn't much incentive to come back for another play through. As it is though, Soul Bubbles is a title on the DS worthy of your attention and would make a great addition to anyone's library of titles.

Pro: Unique gameplay which plays extremely well, presentation is great, controls work well for the most part
Con: Touch screen controls do take some getting used to, little incentive for secondary or further playthroughs
Final score: 8.3

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