Bubble Bobble 4 (PlayStation 4)

Powah Dunk | December 4, 2020 | Review | No Comments

Bub and Bob are an iconic arcade duo who took the world by storm, be it Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Island, Parasol Stars or Puzzle Bobble, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn’t met the dragon duo. It’s been a while since they blew bubbles but they are back now along with the Baron!.

Originally releasing on the Nintendo Switch a year ago under the moniker Bubble Bobble 4 Friends it is now on Playstation 4 and comes with a substantial update in the form of The Baron is Back, also releasing as a free update for Switch owners!.

Bubble Bobble is arcade down to its very pours and if you have ever played it then you know exactly what to expect with this latest release. The game consists of maze like single screen stages, you have the task of blowing bubbles to capture monsters in and then pop them. You can combo them together for a better score and then collect the various food items to also improve your score.

You can ride the bubbles and bounce off them to get to higher areas. While the maze layouts are different each stage they follow a theme which is displayed in the background, 4 Friends follows the adventure through a child’s bedroom giving it a somewhat “Toy Story” feel to it.

The graphics have a nice HD shine to them and Bub, Bob and the accompanying cast have never looked better!. As mentioned the backgrounds help add a charm to the game and it’s nigh on impossible to not smile at how cutsie everything is!.

While basic in premise, Bubble Bobble is an arcade classic and props to the developer for not messing with the formula. They have made additions like unlockable power ups to help out but the core gameplay is unchanged from the original for better and worse.

Myself I love the series and find them to be a great “fast food” game in that I can pick up at anytime for a quick play and then put it down for another time. While this is ideal for quicker play sessions, gamers expecting a little more may not quite get sucked in by the games magic and charm and find its repetitive nature kick in a lot quicker than fans of the series.

The game consists of 5 Worlds with 10 floors getting progressively tougher up to the stage boss on floor 10. Once you have beaten these you are given the chance to replay them in a remix even tougher mode. Should you be up to that task you then unlock the Baron is Back tower which is a nice throwback to the days of old for Bubble Bobble in that it’s a 50 floor tower, no check points and no saves. This tower is hard, like really really hard and is mainly designed for people who have sucked the life out of the core content, it gives the game even more life and even more reason for you to fight with your co op friends over lost lives!.

Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is naturally best played with friends shockingly enough, on its own you can still have fun and there is a lot of content between the main game, the new add on and the original Bubble Bobble thrown in for good measure too. It all just feels slightly shallow unless you have another player involved.