Welcome to Modojo, 
Bubble Bobble Revolution Review
Written by Robert Falcon on Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Contains the original classic arcade game.
The entire game suffers from lackluster presentation and game-killing bugs.
HOW?! How in the name of what is unholy could Taito and Codemasters ruin an arcade classic? It simply can't be done...but alas, it has. And just when I was starting to think that Taito learned a lesson by licensing out Puzzle Bobble to an undertalented developer, who in turn screwed up the game for the N-Gage. Sigh...I guess there's some lessons that you have to have repeat examples of before something sinks in. Thus the latest, and probably most painful of lessons- Bubble Bobble Revolution.
The game would have been better called Bubble Bobble De-Evolution, because it goes nothing but backwards. Hell, you can tell right from the cover art how bad things are going to get in the game. Bub and Bob don't look like their normal selves. Instead, they look like unaccomplished Weight Watcher failures who can't help but stare at each other lifelessly. The personality's been drained, and what remains is a sham of a cover article. But this is just the beginning.
Once you get into the "new" game itself, supposedly revamped for the Nintendo DS, you'll find even less joy. The "new" version is nowhere near as good as the original, due to the fact that the controls never come into play like they should. The graphics, which are supposed to be cute and colorful, instead look confusing and somewhat unappealing, like they were slapped together without a care in the world. The animation isn't even anything wonderful, as Bub and Bob are once again painted in the wrong light instead of with their classic, cute poses. The audio's just as bad, with lifeless music and pretty bland special effects.
But that's not the worst part. Although the gameplay isn't exactly the greatest in the world, it does hold up for the duration of the game- until it crashes. That's right, I tested this out in THREE different retail versions of the game (that was a fun day at GameStop), and found that the "new" version only goes 30 of its 100 levels. From there, you sit at a boss stage. And sit. And wait for the boss. And sit. And sit some more. NO BOSS. How Codemasters let this little bug slip by them without even noticing is inexcusable. How Taito let the programming slip underhanded is even more so. The game just stops and sits there, leaving you wondering what level 31 is like in your mind. Or not.
There is a single benefit to Bubble Bobble Revolution, besides the train wreck of bugs and underwhelming design. The classic game is included, and is as fun as you remember it to be as Bub and Bob move around in a lightly designed stage, blasting enemies into bubbles. BUT there is another crucial flaw, and that's with the multiplayer. The game does support two players in a game at once, but Codemasters took the lazy way out and required that both players must have a copy of the game- single-cartridge download isn't an option here. It's almost as if I can hear Bub and Bob crying now. They get misrepresented twice and now they can't even play together unless two saps buy the same game at the same time. Gah!
Avoid. AVOID. AVOID! I can't say it any louder in text, unless I use large font which would clunk up the page and probably piss off the editorial team. Bubble Bobble Revolution is a mother of a rush job, with no pure heart poured into the presentation, the gameplay, or even the testing process. If you want to play the original game, track down an emulator or, better yet, an NES with a Bubble Bobble cartridge. You will be glad you did. And so, for that matter, will Bub and Bob.
posted October 19, 2006