Soul Bubbles (DS) - Action puzzler, similar to Loco Roco

jmdbcool

DISCLAIMER

THIS GAME DOES NOT DEPICT ANY OF THE
FOLLOWING OBJECTS OR EVENTS:

* LICENSED RACING CARS *
* POST-APOCALYPTIC SOLDIERS *
* ELFS, ORCS OR MAGICIANS *
* GANG FIGHTS *

PLEASE DO NOT PANIC!
IT'S ALL GONNA BE HUNKY DORY...

Soul Bubbles Preview, Developer Interview


Soul Bubbles



Official Site
http://www.soul-bubbles.com


Release Dates
(These are according to IGN.)

US: June 30, 2008
Europe: June 13, 2008
Australia: June 20, 2008

MSRP: $29.99


What is it?
Soul Bubbles is an action puzzler game in which you guide spirits to safety by carrying them in bubbles. You are a spirit herder. The game has atmospheric music, and beautiful visuals which push the limits of the DS hardware. You can create bubbles, join them with other bubbles, and slice your bubbles apart into smaller bubbles to fit through tight spots. Some enemies you kill by tapping, and some you cut by slashing the stylus.


Controls
Almost entirely with the stylus. Don't worry, you don't "blow" bubbles, you draw them. It's very forgiving about circles, too: they don't have to be perfect at all, you'll still get a nice bubble. The game asks you to blow in the mic once during the beginning, but it's not part of the gameplay. You hold U/D/L/R on the d-pad in combination with the stylus to use different abilities (or A/B/X/Y for lefties). Drag the stylus across the screen, and your character will blow in that direction, pushing the bubble.


Screens
But the screens don't do it justice. Did you watch the video?






I had not heard of this game until I saw someone talking about it on a DS homebrew site. Now I'm really excited about it.

Rami

Just 40 minutes ago a friend of mine was telling me to buy this, according to him its fantastic.

Although I'm not that optimistic; no gang fights? Lame.

GSM

Besides Loco Roco, it also reminds me of the game "Bubble Ghost", right down to the bubbles containing a soul. But I'm very relieved that the bubble is more resilient than the bubble in Bubble Ghost. That game became rather frustrating after a while.

Cantido

GSM wrote: »

Besides Loco Roco, it also reminds me of the game "Bubble Ghost", right down to the bubbles containing a soul. But I'm very relieved that the bubble is more resilient than the bubble in Bubble Ghost. That game became rather frustrating after a while.

You've played Bubble Ghost. I played that when I was little.



I went back and forth in the manual when I was little, I don't remember the bubbles being souls. It's just the ghost playing around. No real ending either.

METAzraeL

awesome, kinda makes me think of Yoshi Touch n Go being turned into a full-fledged game. I'm totally going to get this now.

Food

Looks very good.

GSM

Cantido wrote: »

GSM wrote: »

Besides Loco Roco, it also reminds me of the game "Bubble Ghost", right down to the bubbles containing a soul. But I'm very relieved that the bubble is more resilient than the bubble in Bubble Ghost. That game became rather frustrating after a while.

You've played Bubble Ghost. I played that when I was little.



I went back and forth in the manual when I was little, I don't remember the bubbles being souls. It's just the ghost playing around. No real ending either.

The story as I remembered it from the Amiga version was that a mad scientist had killed himself making some electrified bubble bath device, trapping his soul in a bubble, and leaving himself as a ghost (what?). So he has to escape his castle by blowing the bubble with his soul trapped inside out of the castle.

It was kind of a dark story for such a cute game.

jmdbcool

After reading more about it, the only criticism I've seen so far is that it's kinda short. Good for completionists, though... there's hidden stuff to collect in each level, and it also saves your best time and gives you a grade. So there's a little bit of replay value there, but not a lot.

Opium

METAzraeL wrote: »

awesome, kinda makes me think of Yoshi Touch n Go being turned into a full-fledged game. I'm totally going to get this now.

Hey don't insult Yoshi Touch & Go, that game is fucking awesome and absolutely a full-fledged game. Best highscore-beating game EVAR. Infinitely replayable. You have to think of it as Tetris and not as Yoshi's Island. Or do you think Tetris, Lumines etc. (i.e. timeless, neverending highscorebeating games that you can play over and over for decades and enjoy time and time again) aren't fullfledged either? Not every game is "go on a quest, collect all the weapons and items and defeat the final boss".

Cantido

GSM wrote: »

Cantido wrote: »

GSM wrote: »

Besides Loco Roco, it also reminds me of the game "Bubble Ghost", right down to the bubbles containing a soul. But I'm very relieved that the bubble is more resilient than the bubble in Bubble Ghost. That game became rather frustrating after a while.

You've played Bubble Ghost. I played that when I was little.



I went back and forth in the manual when I was little, I don't remember the bubbles being souls. It's just the ghost playing around. No real ending either.

The story as I remembered it from the Amiga version was that a mad scientist had killed himself making some electrified bubble bath device, trapping his soul in a bubble, and leaving himself as a ghost (what?). So he has to escape his castle by blowing the bubble with his soul trapped inside out of the castle.

It was kind of a dark story for such a cute game.

That explains it. I played it for Game Boy.

Velmeran

finally a game my gf will play since it doesn't have tons of english and is cute (english isn't her first language).

METAzraeL

Opium wrote: »

METAzraeL wrote: »

awesome, kinda makes me think of Yoshi Touch n Go being turned into a full-fledged game. I'm totally going to get this now.

Hey don't insult Yoshi Touch & Go, that game is fucking awesome and absolutely a full-fledged game. Best highscore-beating game EVAR. Infinitely replayable. You have to think of it as Tetris and not as Yoshi's Island. Or do you think Tetris, Lumines etc. (i.e. timeless, neverending highscorebeating games that you can play over and over for decades and enjoy time and time again) aren't fullfledged either? Not every game is "go on a quest, collect all the weapons and items and defeat the final boss".

actually, I loved Yt&G - it's possibly my favourite DS game of that first year. I just meant that this looks like it will have more of a story and new/progressive gameplay as opposed to only arcadey high scores.

Sorry you wasted a rant :P

The Reverend Dr Galactus

I'd forgotten how weird some of Bubble Ghost's levels were:



IIRC, the head thing depicted there had a bizarro pulsating forehead or something...


Back on topic, though, I can't think of another DS puzzle game I've seen that just looks this invitingly smooth. Good thing the OP includes the video; the stills don't do it justice.

This is one of those things that upon seeing in motion somehow looks impossible not to be fun.

Lunker

Bubble Ghost squad assemble! I loved that game (the brick Game Boy version) and remember playing it a lot.

This game looks really interesting—thanks for the link to the video. I was definitely kind of blasé to the concept until I saw it in motion. I'll keep this in mind for the future.

jmdbcool

Giving this thread a bump, since the game is out in the US now. I bought it online, but as far as brick-and-mortar stores, apparently it's exclusively at Toys 'R' Us.

greeble

This looks pretty fun, and my DS is soo very lonely. (Haven't bought a game for it since the last Castlevania.) But $30 is a bit much for what is reported to be a short game. Can someone let me know when its $20?