Soul Bubbles

Review - Lifts the spirits, says Anna

Soul Bubbles is a title developed for the DS taking full advantage of the device's unique properties, unlike the many uncomfortable squeezes that were adaptations of bigger console games. The concept is delightfully simple but expertly realised, promising to be a real cross-over hit with all ages and genders. After all, like balloons and fireworks, if you don't like bubbles, there must be something seriously broken inside you.

The aim of the game is to blow the souls of suffering creatures, encased in a protective bubble, through increasingly difficult mazes to reach serenity. At the outset I thought this was a Japanese game, as they have a special knack for dealing with death and ghosts in a light-hearted manner (see Bleach or Death Note). In fact it's a French development by Mekensleep, and it certainly has the trademark Gallic touch of playfulness and charm, with that large dose of cuteness that one expects from Nintendo. Even before the game proper starts, the disclaimer states that there will be no racing cars, fighting, elfs, orcs or magicians, but 'Please do not Panic! It's all gonna be hunky dory!' And hunky dory it is, too.

In Soul Bubbles you are controlling an apprentice spirit herder, a tiny chap with a giant head, naked, save for a scarf. During the initiation you have to call yourself into existence by blowing at the microphone. This worried me at first, thinking that I'd have to blow my way through the whole game, undoubtedly passing out, but thankfully everything else takes place on the touch screen. You have a big responsibility for such a tiny person, in each level you have to guide seven spirits to a Gateway Cube, so they can exit this mortal plane. Without the protective spell, i.e. the bubble, they are vulnerable and easily destroyed, meaning they are stuck in limbo forever. You get attached to these little blue lights amazingly fast, going into a frenzied panic when the bubble bursts - more and more often as the game goes on. The bubbles themselves are incredibly tactile, generally obeying the laws of physics; they bounce, squeeze through tunnels and blob along most satisfactorily. Besides blowing them, you can also carry out a variety of actions by donning one of three masks using the directional pad and stylus, increasing the innate cuteness of your character manifold. There's a tiger mask for dividing the bubble, a bird mask for drawing new ones and an elephant mask for deflating.

You'll be guiding your spirits through seven worlds, with five levels in each, plus a bonus land of the dead. The difficulty increases at a very consistent pace, growing from level to level as well as from world to world. The worlds are all individually themed, based on mystical lands, from Druidic Ireland to Native American shamanism. Each world is detailed and beautifully designed, with its own theme tune, unique properties and menagerie of creatures that prey on our spirits from birds to flying skulls, monkeys, puffer fish and frogs, all of which have to be defeated in a different way, as well as sticky plants, pointy objects and projectile weapons. Every world also has its own set of progressively fiendish puzzles that have to be overcome by the creative manipulation of bubbles to press buttons, push levers, put out fires and so on. Every level starts with a black screen, and is gradually uncovered by the light of the spirit bubble, the way indicated by a trail of 'stardust'. Also hidden on every level are three 'Calabash', a gourd-like object of which 50 have to be collected to unlock the final world. What makes Soul Bubbles so accessible for everyone is that whilst it is relatively easy to get from A to B for anyone, the obsessive compulsive gets the opportunity to replay levels until they collect every piece of stardust, uncover every hidden passage, get all the Calabash and save all their spirits too. The controls are entirely user friendly, for example you can bring the map down from the top screen and jump anywhere on it, without the need to backtrack. There are no time limits either, and although some people complained that the game is too short, by the fourth world I had quite happily spent half an hour absorbed in completing a single level without even noticing it. My spirits are precious, I'm not going to just blow them about willy-nilly!

Soul Bubbles is an original game, beautifully executed, perfectly suited for the DS, using the touch screen to its full potential. I would love to find some fault with it, but I simply can't. Okay, I did get frustrated from time to time, but it was enormously satisfying when I finally got all my little spirits to safety. At once adorable and challenging, Soul Bubbles is a game that anyone can fall in love with and is innovative and varied enough to keep them hooked.

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