Bublex Mania Review

If Bublex Mania is anything to go by, then these Puzzle Bobble clones – and, yes, this is most certainly one of those – are running out of appropriate settings for their ball-busting action.

On this form, any follow-up to Inlogic's take on Taito's most addictive of match-three puzzlers will probably be set in a North Korean bomb factory, simply because the bombs happen to be circles.

Thankfully, this edition stays well clear of Pyongyang and instead takes us under the sea.

As you might expect, bubbles are the targets here. Your role is to fire a series of different coloured bubbles handed to you by a particularly brutish band of fish at the bottom of the screen up to a collection of them at the top.

Just like Puzzle Bobble (or Bust-a-Move if you're reading this from across the pond), matching them in groups of three or more clears them from the board, with any bubbles attached below also being wiped from play.

Puzzles with bubbles

Your long term aim, however, changes depending on which mode you play.

In Arcade, Bublex Mania is all about survival. If the bubbles fall below a water mark at the bottom of the screen it's Game Over, so the target is to keep the screen as clear as you can for as long as you can.

New bubbles are always added to the top of the pile, however, so your demise is inevitable – success is just a question of how many points you can notch up in the meantime.

Bublex Mania's oddly named Tournament mode, however, changes things a touch and serves up a series of solvable puzzles.

Initially, your task is to clear the board in fairly simple fashion. However, as the stages pass, the game shifts up a few gears and time becomes a major issue.

Add to this the ceiling dropping a degree with every second that passes (in true Puzzle Bobble style, of course) and you've got a mode that's arguably more pressured than Arcade.

Of course, all this has been seen before and, no doubt, will be seen again. Bublex Mania's only distinguishing factor is a few power-up bubbles that are scattered throughout play.

The rainbow ball – which can be matched with any two balls of the same colour – tends to feature in all such titles, but there are also power-ups that improve your aim with a handy, and lengthy, sight guide, and even one that stops the encroaching ceiling – for a short period, at least.

Even so, there's very little reason to pick Bublex Mania over the scores of other Puzzle Bobble wannabes, even if the controls – '4' and '6' moving your aim, '5' to fire – are thankfully as responsive and simple as you might expect.

If you simply cannot get your hands on enough bubble bursting fun, then Bublex Mania – while not the real thing – is unlikely to disappoint.