Bust-A-Move 4 (PS3)
Aside from Tetris and Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, one of my all-time favorite puzzle game series is Bust-A-Move. Heck, even my mom loves these games. It’s also known as Puzzle Bobble, and I prefer that name since the game is based on the arcade classic Bubble Bobble, so it makes more sense. But anyway, now you can download one of the classic PlayStation entries in the series published by Natsume, downloadable on PSN (reviewed on PS3 here).
The object of all Bust-A-Move games is the same, and very simple and easy to pick up and play. Colored bubbles are arranged at the top of the screen, and slowly creep down. You must prevent them from reaching the bottom or it’s Game Over. To do this, you must aim and fire bubbles from the bottom of the screen. You can also make bubbles bounce off of walls to hit hard to reach places. Match three of the same colored bubble and they’ll pop and disappear. Any bubbles hanging under the match will fall and disappear too, and you can earn points and chain reactions in the two player modes by doing that. Pop all the bubbles in the single player modes to clear the stage, or make the second player’s field full of bubbles to win in the two player modes. Bust-A-Move 4 adds a new gameplay mechanic: pulleys. Some stages have bubbles attached to pulleys, and if you attach bubbles or clear out some, it’ll affect the weight of the bubbles on the pulleys and they may go up or down.
Bust-A-Move 4 has several gameplay modes. In the single player puzzle mode, you take on hundreds of stages, and can choose your path to the end. So replay value is high. There is also a challenge mode that isn’t too much different than the regular arcade puzzle mode. You can also play two player modes with the computer or another player. You can even edit and create your own puzzles!
Really the only problem I had with this game is that it was a bit buggy in the music department. A song would play in one level, only to cut out and be silent in the next, reappearing almost randomly again later. I don’t know if this was a bug in the original PSOne game, too, but it doesn’t affect the gameplay at all here, so it’s only a very minor problem. Since all Bust-A-Move games are pretty much the same, if you already own a game in this series, there isn’t much new here. But if you don’t have a Bust-A-Move game to play on your PS3, this one is a great download and I highly recommend it.
Kid Factor:
No violence or objectionable material whatsoever. Reading is helpful for menu navigation, but the game itself is easy enough to figure out how to play. Limitless continues keep the game from being frustrating, too. Bust-A-Move 4 is rated E for Everyone.
May 20th, 2014 at 4:38 am
This is my second favorite in the Puzzle Bobble series (Puzzle Bobble 3 is still my number 1 favorite except for the art design).
I’ve checked it before on the PSN library but it was not available for download but thanks for the tip that it’s now available; I’ll check it later. Yeah, pulleys (I hate pulleys though, you always need to balance it properly otherwise the heavier end will instantly fall incredibly fast) and chain reaction (they actually improved the voices of the characters in the home version compared to the arcade version) are the highlights of this game.
You forgot to include the other modes for the home version like the level editor (create a stage to your liking), challenge mode (they will rate you depending on how fast and you can clear a level. All other things will be rated as well) and the “other world”, it’s like a series of stages you need to finish and if everything is complete, it will grant you w/ the tarot reading where the game will try to guess your fortune.
My sister started playing that part although I helped a bit.
-DarkdaemonPK2
May 20th, 2014 at 12:09 pm
I did mention the edit mode at the end of one of the paragraphs.
It’s nice to know there are others who enjoy these games like I do. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Only cool thing I can remember about Puzzle Bobble 3 is that the other characters you played against were from other Taito arcade games.
April 20th, 2021 at 12:07 am
To answer the question posed near the end, the music thing is an issue in the PS1 emulator that the PS3 uses and is not an issue on original hardware. This problem also does not show itself on the PSP, and presumably not on the PS Vita either (note: if you’ve got a downloadable PS1 Classic on PS3, PSP, or PS Vita, you’ve automatically got it on all three platforms).