Wirausaha Muda: Bubble Bump w/Themes : a classic puzzler with a disturbing twist

Bubble Bump Windows Phone

Aka. Puzzle Bobble, minus the finesse. Puzzle Bobble, in case you weren’t aware, is a game about clearing a collection of bubbles by launching bubbles of the same colour at them. Match three or more and they disappear. Every so many shots, the ceiling descends, pushing the bubbles closer to your cannon. Should the bubbles reach the bottom of the screen, it’s game over – and as the bubbles get closer, it also becomes harder to aim your shots thanks to the more limited angles of attack. A great idea, and one which has endured well. Bubble Bump is quite take this idea and, well, do nothing with it. There are some differences, all of which make things considerably less tactical. First, the ceiling is constantly dropping – rather than being linked to the number of shots you make, forcing you to be efficient, it simply requires that you fire bubbles thick and fast to clear away the bubbles faster than they descend.

Secondly, it removes the Puzzle Bobble’s main challenge: that the bubbles had to be cleared. In Bubble Bump, the only bubbles that have to be removed are those immediately above your cannon: only a bubble coming into contact with you directly will cause you to lose. The ceiling colliding with the cannon results in you winning, and progressing onto the next level.
To be fair, you are encouraged to clear all of the bubbles – you get a points bonus for doing so. But the fact that you don’t need to makes this an easy game to coast through, where high scores require little more than patience. Not that this is a terrible game – it works well enough, it’s easy to understand, and it can keep you entertained for a while. It’s also free – though the adverts in this game are more annoying than most, obscuring as they do part of the play area, covering most of your cannon, and preventing you from seeing the full list of upcoming bubbles to launch.
As for the ‘Themes’ of the title: this refers to the option to choose from several sets of backgrounds while you play, which is a nice touch. Or at least, it would be, were it not for the odd decision to include a set of backgrounds ‘for men’, consisting of a range of pin-ups. For one thing, this is a game that is particularly suitable for children – encouraging them to view women as sex objects seems more than a little off, and should be clearly flagged up to potential downloaders. For another, if you’re going to include the option for sexualised imagery in your game, you might want to at least make the pretence of some gender equality and include male pin-ups. Whatever the case, this is a rather creepy inclusion in an otherwise inoffensive puzzle game.
In summary: it works, it does nothing special, it’s a little creepy, and it’s free.