Bursting with the same cheerful energy, adorable characters, and timeless gameplay as its predecessors, Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey is the next evolution of the classic Japanese action puzzle game franchise—with the immersive fun of 3D!
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the last 5 overly long and artificially difficult levels really sour the experience; the middle 20-80 (the first 20 are easy and introductory) levels are mostly very addictive and fun to play through. there are at least 2 tracks on the soundtrack that are real ear worms and the presentation is fine
Ball Buster VR
GOTY 2022 & '21 - NUMBER 10
(A video version of this can be found here)
I kind of don't like Puzzle Bobble 3D. I don't think the design is nearly as tight as the classic Puzzle Bobble, the presentation is really cheap, and I don't think Survios have done a great job of replicating the series' charm. I don't really like how Bub and Bob are presented here. Despite this, it has joined the ranks alongside Shenmue and PaRappa the Rapper as one of the only games I've Platinumed, and I think it's one of the most original takes on the classic puzzle action format I've seen in years. Almost by accident.
See, "bubble shooters" have dominated mobile games for years, and the bulk of innovation in that space has been finding new ways to monetise it. Survios are one of those developers, but they wanted to try something with VR, and that was enough to excite Taito into lending them the licence. How do you do VR Puzzle Bobble, though? Survios decided they'd make the puzzles physical things, and add physics to design. If you shoot the puzzle from an angle, the whole thing spins, revealing another side. It adds a whole new dynamic to the gameplay, and an additional level of strategy. Maybe you're given a useless colour of bubble, but if you get a good shot, it might line up your next opportunity nicely.
There's a good bit of variety in the campaign too. Some puzzles are fairly static. Some spin continuously. Some limit the number of bubbles you can fire, while others offer strict time limits. There's special bubbles that can offer bonus shots, and others that can take away from the shots you have in reserve. There's a lot of potential for skilful play here, and moments where you're making hopeless shots in the vague chance of making your next turn easier for yourself. There's a star rating awarded to you at the end of each level based on how efficiently you played, and if you earn enough bonus coins, you can buy power-ups that will help you bypass the challenge of the most annoying levels. I can't think of a puzzle game where the variables were so vast, and that makes the lure of coming back and trying again much more compelling.
What sets Puzzle Bobble apart from your Tetrises and your Lumineses is how cheeky you can be. How a flukey wee shot can knock half the board away in an instant. This is what Puzzle Bobble 3D really revels in. Stupid cack-handed shots that chain into massive explosions. It's exciting to go for shots that make a huge impact and give you an easier job, but there's a glee in the totally undeserved victories too. There's so much potential for horrific mistakes while playing something like this, but when luck's on your side, it can really make your day.
I don't think I like this game because it's Puzzle Bobble, but almost in spite of it. I'm very fussy about how I think Bub and Bob should be presented, and I don't think anyone's ever got it right while Taito outsourced the games. I'm not really a fan of these squealing, pitch-shifted Denver the Last Dinosaur versions of the bubble dragons either, but I've seen them done a lot worse. Mind on the DS Bubble Bobble Revolution? Or Classic Bubble Bobble on the Game Boy Color? It feels mean to go on about this, but I feel obliged to get the word out there that the fans care about how Bub and Bob look and behave, and with continued effort, maybe we can get back to the Bust-A-Move 2/Bubble Symphony style guide in time. Sorry, but I've lived through too many Tomba 2s and Wii Klonoas to let this shit lie.
Right - anyway - back to liking the game. Puzzle games are quite antithetical to a lot of the shitness of modern games. They're not about barebones interactions within a trite story. They're game design at its most nakedly mechanical. Smashing abstract shapes together within strict perimeters to meet your goal. Pure skill and strategy. Getting a new take on that within the hellscape of the 2021 video game release schedule was a breath of fresh air, and getting to contribute to the newly-independent Taito's shaky finances is always important to me.
I don't think Puzzle Bobble 3D is a modern classic, or anyone will even utter its title again in a few years time. It has been a great comfort in among the avalanche of half-arsed remakes, shallow seventy quid PS5 exclusives and shameless microtransaction platforms though. It's cheap, cheerful and a good reminder of what it's like to get something out of the experience of playing a new video game. When the grandest innovations in the puzzle genre in recent years have amounted to a couple new Tetris modes, I think a successful 3D reinvention of an established classic is worth celebrating. It might appear to be a worse version of something I love, but it's really something pretty unique and interesting, and we haven't had a lot of that recently.
This was number 6 on the original 2021 list. Can you see why I skipped doing it last year?
(A video version of this can be found here)
I kind of don't like Puzzle Bobble 3D. I don't think the design is nearly as tight as the classic Puzzle Bobble, the presentation is really cheap, and I don't think Survios have done a great job of replicating the series' charm. I don't really like how Bub and Bob are presented here. Despite this, it has joined the ranks alongside Shenmue and PaRappa the Rapper as one of the only games I've Platinumed, and I think it's one of the most original takes on the classic puzzle action format I've seen in years. Almost by accident.
See, "bubble shooters" have dominated mobile games for years, and the bulk of innovation in that space has been finding new ways to monetise it. Survios are one of those developers, but they wanted to try something with VR, and that was enough to excite Taito into lending them the licence. How do you do VR Puzzle Bobble, though? Survios decided they'd make the puzzles physical things, and add physics to design. If you shoot the puzzle from an angle, the whole thing spins, revealing another side. It adds a whole new dynamic to the gameplay, and an additional level of strategy. Maybe you're given a useless colour of bubble, but if you get a good shot, it might line up your next opportunity nicely.
There's a good bit of variety in the campaign too. Some puzzles are fairly static. Some spin continuously. Some limit the number of bubbles you can fire, while others offer strict time limits. There's special bubbles that can offer bonus shots, and others that can take away from the shots you have in reserve. There's a lot of potential for skilful play here, and moments where you're making hopeless shots in the vague chance of making your next turn easier for yourself. There's a star rating awarded to you at the end of each level based on how efficiently you played, and if you earn enough bonus coins, you can buy power-ups that will help you bypass the challenge of the most annoying levels. I can't think of a puzzle game where the variables were so vast, and that makes the lure of coming back and trying again much more compelling.
What sets Puzzle Bobble apart from your Tetrises and your Lumineses is how cheeky you can be. How a flukey wee shot can knock half the board away in an instant. This is what Puzzle Bobble 3D really revels in. Stupid cack-handed shots that chain into massive explosions. It's exciting to go for shots that make a huge impact and give you an easier job, but there's a glee in the totally undeserved victories too. There's so much potential for horrific mistakes while playing something like this, but when luck's on your side, it can really make your day.
I don't think I like this game because it's Puzzle Bobble, but almost in spite of it. I'm very fussy about how I think Bub and Bob should be presented, and I don't think anyone's ever got it right while Taito outsourced the games. I'm not really a fan of these squealing, pitch-shifted Denver the Last Dinosaur versions of the bubble dragons either, but I've seen them done a lot worse. Mind on the DS Bubble Bobble Revolution? Or Classic Bubble Bobble on the Game Boy Color? It feels mean to go on about this, but I feel obliged to get the word out there that the fans care about how Bub and Bob look and behave, and with continued effort, maybe we can get back to the Bust-A-Move 2/Bubble Symphony style guide in time. Sorry, but I've lived through too many Tomba 2s and Wii Klonoas to let this shit lie.
Right - anyway - back to liking the game. Puzzle games are quite antithetical to a lot of the shitness of modern games. They're not about barebones interactions within a trite story. They're game design at its most nakedly mechanical. Smashing abstract shapes together within strict perimeters to meet your goal. Pure skill and strategy. Getting a new take on that within the hellscape of the 2021 video game release schedule was a breath of fresh air, and getting to contribute to the newly-independent Taito's shaky finances is always important to me.
I don't think Puzzle Bobble 3D is a modern classic, or anyone will even utter its title again in a few years time. It has been a great comfort in among the avalanche of half-arsed remakes, shallow seventy quid PS5 exclusives and shameless microtransaction platforms though. It's cheap, cheerful and a good reminder of what it's like to get something out of the experience of playing a new video game. When the grandest innovations in the puzzle genre in recent years have amounted to a couple new Tetris modes, I think a successful 3D reinvention of an established classic is worth celebrating. It might appear to be a worse version of something I love, but it's really something pretty unique and interesting, and we haven't had a lot of that recently.
This was number 6 on the original 2021 list. Can you see why I skipped doing it last year?
fun enough to get the platinum