If you’re a fan of the Puzzle Bobble franchise then you’ve likely been eating good over the past couple years as ININ Games has steadily been releasing entries on modern platforms. Puzzle Bobble EveryBubble! Is their latest entry and available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch now. Here is my review on how it turned out.
The story in Puzzle Bobble EveryBubble follows our four cute little characters Bub, Bob, Peb and Pab as they work to clean up the Rainbow Islands after a dragon named Miniroon has overflowed them with bubbles. This is a huge problem for the residents there so our four little heroes have to pop those bubbles and clean things up. If you’ve never played one of these games before then the idea is pretty simple to grasp. The screen is full of different colored bubbles and your character is at the bottom of the screen. You have to shoot bubbles to create matches of three which will then clear them from the screen. Clear the whole screen and you move on to the next level. You have to move steadily though as the bubbles will gradually move towards the bottom of the screen and can cause you to fail if they reach it. Levels also get harder as you go as things like obstacles will be added to make lining up your shots more difficult.
For modes you have a few options including the Story mode that is made up of several regions consisting of over a dozen levels each. Outside of the normal levels there are also EX versions of the levels you can unlock that put some rather difficult conditions on you in order to complete them. You can even play the story mode with up for four players although it is local play only. Then you have VS mode that lets you play against another player locally or online or play against CPU opponents. Baron’s Tower is another mode that you can play to try and set high scores and compete on the online leaderboards. The final mode is a special cross-over mode with Space Invaders where the bubble’s looks are changed to look like the space invaders instead. You can play this mode in co-op too and while it isn’t much different gameplay wise it’s still a fun little change up that I’m glad is present. Overall, while I wish there was a bit more gameplay variety here there is still plenty to keep you playing if you find yourself enjoying the core idea.
On the visual and audio side of things the game is very colorful. I played mostly on my Switch OLED in handheld mode and it really makes the colors pop. The music is also quite good and sound effects like the bubbles popping sound good. There are some little annoying sound effect things here and there but nothing overall that hurt my enjoyment of the experience much.
Puzzle Bobble Everybubble is another solid entry in this long running series that delivers plenty of bubble popping fun. Being able to play the story mode with multiple players is cool and while there isn’t a ton of gameplay variety, there is still plenty to sink your teeth into. If you enjoy these characters and popping bubbles then you really can’t go wrong with this one.
*Puzzle Bobble Everybubble is available now on Nintendo Switch. Nintendo Switch version reviewed. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
Puzzle Bobble Everybubble!
$39.99
Pros
- Lots of puzzle stages to play through across multiple modes
- Many modes let you play with 2-4 players
- Vibrant visuals
Cons
- Not a lot of gameplay variety
- No online co-op for story mode
