Soul Bubbles (Nintendo DS) Review

You play as a shaman-in-training whose job is to ferry the souls of dear departed animals to their eternal rest. To do so, the apprentice must trap the souls in bubbles and blow them through the levels to reach the Gateway Cube, which you are guided to by stardust, at the end of the level. However, it’s not so simple as that; there are numerous obstacles for you to overcome, in form of flames, devilish monkeys and sticky weeds, to name but a few. To pass these, players are expected to use the different powers given by masks, which the shaman can wear at any time with a simple tap of a direction on the D-pad (or face buttons if you are left handed). Pressing up on the pad allows you to draw more bubbles with slapdash circles. Holding left will don the elephant mask which will allow you to deflate your bubbles, as well as some of the enemies such as puffer fish that endanger the souls by being able to pop bubbles. Last but not least is the tiger mask, which allows you to cut bubbles into smaller ones or join them back up with a simple swipe of the stylus, enabling the souls to pass through tighter gaps that perhaps larger bubbles wouldn’t be able to pass through.

As expected, you can’t just breeze through each level. There are forty levels spread across eight worlds and each has their own distinct themes - and unique obstacles. In one world, the player will encounter monkeys which grab hold of your precious bubble and drag it to other areas of the map which may help you, or take you back a few steps. In another, there are turrets of fire that must be put out by sealing water in a bubble and dousing the fire with it before progress can be made, and there are also weight-based puzzles in other worlds. To push the player further, there are also three Calabash scattered and hidden throughout each level in increasingly difficult places, and if you wish to achieve 100% completion, they must all be collected. This is all brought together by a simple, but attractive, graphical style of hand drawn backgrounds, and bubbles interact with the environments with realistic physics. Watching as wind blows through the scenery, helping your orb through the level, or water running off the edge of bubbles is all rather enticing, whilst the sound matches the naturist feel of the title.

Overall, this rather simple concept of a game becomes delightfully tricky very quickly and offers a charming, yet enjoyable challenge. Seeing your oh-so-precious (and rather delicate) bubble reach the Gateway Cube at the end of the level is as satisfying a reward as any found in titles with more complex concepts. It’s perfect to play for hours on end to get all those collectables, but also to just pop open and run through a level or two on the bus to work; there really is something here for everyone. Mekensleep have made a fun game that all glues together to make an impressive game, from the beautiful hand-drawn backgrounds, to the way the bubble interacts with the environment, it is marvellous. Snap it up, and lavish in the wonderful levels that just keep on giving.