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Space Bust-a-Move
Score: 95%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Taito
Media: Cartridge/1
Players: 1 - 4
Genre: Puzzle/ Strategy

Graphics & Sound:
The original Bust-a-Move first came out about 15 years ago. Since then, several versions have come out, all of them addictive puzzle games! The newest of these is Space Bust-a-Move. Graphically, the game hasn't really changed that much throughout the years. There are some added extras in this one, though. In Story Mode, you'll be playing as the same characters throughout, Bub and Bob. These guys are cute little dinosaur looking things. As they go along their journey, they'll meet quite a few interesting characters. These are the same characters that you play against in the Versus Mode. A really nice additional feature in Space Bust-a-Move is the ability to change the appearance of the balls. You will have to buy the new sets in the shop first, but you can change them to all sorts of interesting things like monster (famous monsters), planet, flower, sweets, and many more! Some of them do take a little getting used to though, as the color differences aren't as great. Personally, I like the one with the numbers in them the best. They're not the prettiest, but to me they are by far the easiest to work with since it is nearly impossible to get the numbers mixed up no matter how tired you are! You can also buy different arrows to change to.

Gameplay:
Space Bust-A-Move provides opportunities for you to play alone or against up to four players with a single game cartridge. If you're like me, then the first thing you're going to try is the Single Player Story Mode. Here you play as Bub and Bob. They have received a strange message from a person called Snown. She tells them that they must help her and collect the Cosmo Bubbles before the evil Devilin can get them and use them to rule the cosmos. They can't let an evil guy rule the cosmos, so Bub and Bob set off to the first planet. To collect the Cosmo Bubbles, you have to cause them to fall by destroying the other bubbles holding them up. If you destroy the Cosmo Bubble, you'll have to retry until you get it. You can go on without them, but you won't be able to take on the boss. Each planet has 3 stages and each stage has 5 rounds. There will be a Cosmo Bubble in one of the 5 rounds. If you miss it and have to retry, you have to start the whole stage over, not just that round, so try your best to get them the first time around. After you've completed all 3 stages and collected the bubbles, you will have a boss battle. Once you beat the boss, it's off to a new planet. You'll initially be told to collect 21 Cosmo Bubbles, which means you'll have to visit 7 planets. You will meet a new and very interesting character on each planet. After you have beaten all 7 bosses, you'll find out that the game isn't quite over yet. I'm not going to spoil it for you though, so you'll just have to get there yourself.

Another way you can play in Single Player is Versus. Here you choose one of the 8 characters to play as, some of which include Iru & Ira, Rabbitman, and Cowboy. You will then have to beat all the other characters. Each time you beat one, you will earn more points than you did for the last one. You earn points in every mode that you play in, but I think that you can get the most points quickly in Versus mode. For each character that you play against, it is the best two out of three, so don't worry if you lose one. Once you beat them all, you are the winner. If you do lose to one, you can choose to replay that one over again, so you don't have to start back at the beginning. Each character has its own attack pattern, so some of them are quite a bit more difficult than others. You'll get used to them all eventually though.

There are several more Modes that you can play alone. In Endless Mode, you just keep busting bubbles until you die, exactly as the name suggests. In Challenge Mode, you choose a certain amount of time (3 or 5 minutes) and try and get the highest possible score that you can in that time. Then there are the modes that you can buy in the shop with the points that you have earned by playing. These modes are Pressure Mode, Puzzle Mode, and Factory Mode. In a way, I don't like that all the modes aren't unlocked from the start, but honestly they're not that many points to buy and you'll earn those quickly. I think it's a good balance of locked and unlocked modes at the beginning.

As I said before, you can play with up to four players on a single game card. I really do love this feature since you can just play with your friends without having them find their copy of the game. Bust-a-Move was always the most fun with multiplayer and Space Bust-a-Move is no exception. In addition to the normal attacks you can throw, there are additional attacks that you can earn to throw at your opponent. These are awesome and sometimes very hard to work around. You'll have fun experimenting with all the various attacks you earn.


Difficulty:
Story Mode started out very easy. On the first 3 planets, I think I only had to retry once because I accidentally popped the Cosmo Bubble. After that, it starts getting progressively more and more difficult. On the seventh planet, you really can't miss a single shot and sometimes that still isn't enough to pass the board if you don't get the right bubbles. I thought that they did a really good job with the difficulty level of Story Mode. It started off very easy so that new players would be able to get the hang of it, but progressive got hard enough that even seasoned players will find it a challenge. Honestly, I haven't beaten the last board yet myself and I've been playing the Bust-A-Move games for years. I will get it beaten, though!

If it's not hard enough for you playing against the computer characters, then there's always multiplayer. There's nothing like getting stomped by a friend to bring you back down to earth. You can make the game as hard as you want trying to play against other people.


Game Mechanics:
So as I said before, Space Bust-a-Move is a puzzle game. You will see bubbles of various colors at the top of the screen. There is an arrow at the bottom with a bubble loaded in it. You can move that arrow with the D-pad to change where the bubble is going to land. When you are ready to shoot it, press the (A) button. Simple, huh? To clear the bubbles, you need to shoot yours into two or more of its color right next to each other. The more you pop, the more points you'll get for it. If you can cause other bubbles to fall by popping the ones holding them on, you get even more points. To collect the Cosmo Bubbles, you'll have to get them to fall without popping them. In Story Mode, once you clear the screen of bubbles, you move on. When you are playing against another player (or the computer), you'll need to keep going until you cause your opponent's screen to fill up. You can see your opponent's screen on the top screen though, so it makes it much easier to know how well you're doing.

I have loved the Bust-a-Move series since I first played it years ago. The new Space Bust-a-Move is a wonderful addition to the series. I love being able to take it with me and still be able to play against friends. It's a simply-to-play puzzle game but difficult to master and highly addictive. If you like puzzle games, I highly recommend that you go pick up Space Bust-a-Move today!


-Cyn, GameVortex Communications
AKA Sara Earl

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