Puzzle Bobble VS
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 The first very bad Puzzle Bobble / Bust-A-Move game, but also one of the worst games for the console.
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Puzzle Bobble VS is a puzzle video game developed by Taito Corporation and published by Nokia. It was released in 2003 and it was one of the launch title for the Nokia N-Gage.
Why It Sucks
- The game has only around 8 stages and 2 VS modes (Story mode and Multiplayer mode, both modes are VS modes). Comparing this game to every entry or the Puzzle Bobble franchise, it lacks variety.
- Speaking about the modes, it lacks the singleplayer mode. this of the most well known mode that is a staple to the franchise is completely absent.
- Even Puzzle Bobble Universe has only 88 stages, its stages are obviously more than this game's stages, making this game shortest length puzzle game in the entire Puzzle Bobble / Bust-A-Move franchise.
- Anyway, this game can be completed in less than 30 minutes.
- The Puzzle Bobble theme is the only song in the whole game. While it sounds great, it becomes very repetitive and annoying to hear once in 10 seconds.
- The stages are very easy and boring, it doesn't pose any challenge to the player, regardless if they are veterans of the series, or even newcomers.
- Slow framerate, the characters are poorly animated, in this game the bubbles move very slow, even the Game Boy, Game Gear and Wonderscan versions of Puzzle Bobble play better than this, but they're weaker than N-Gage.
- Bad graphics, the bubbles and lanucher are very hard to see, which they can be confusing, the red and light purple bubbles in the game were almost same. If you aren't playing the game on the emulator, you cannot really tell the difference without really focusing on them.
- Aside from the Bubble Dragons and the enemies from Bubble Bobble, there is no other character appearing in this game.
- You can get the far superior original Puzzle Bobble or Puzzle Bobble 2 on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One via ACA NEOGEO or get the Java version of Puzzle Bobble on the Nokia mobile phones instead of this, making this game already outdated and pointless by today's standards.
The Only Redeeming Quality
- The 3D animation of the in-game opponent looks very good and very smooth.
Reception
The game received extremely negative reviews from critics and fans of Puzzle Bobble / Bust-A-Move, due to the game's flaws, it was considered to be one of the worst game in the entire Puzzle Bobble / Bust-A-Move franchise. GameSpy said "The N-Gage needs Puzzle Bobble VS as a launch title about as much as anyone needs to play it. The game itself has little that gamers can't find elsewhere, with far less trouble per bubble. Even if it does offer decent multiplayer, that would require gamers to find three friends who all have 20/20 vision and unlimited patience. Much luck with that." It was last Puzzle Bobble / Bust-A-Move game to use Puzzle Bobble name in North America until Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey.