The first time I bobbled Bub and Bob’s bubbles was way back in the late 1980s. While it was a popular arcade game when it launched in 1986, my family and I enjoyed it on the then-revolutionary home console, the Nintendo Entertainment System. We may have moved on to bigger and less bubbly things with our NES and other consoles over the years, but Taito’sBubble Bobblefranchise has been going strong, celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. With that anniversary comes a new title in the company’s wildly successfulPuzzle Bobblespinoff series, a.k.a.Bust-a-Move, as well as a brand-new platform for yours truly, the Oculus Quest 2.
I honestly didn’t expectPuzzle Bobble VR: Vacation Odysseyto be my first VR app experience, but the timing of the game’s launch by Survios Inc. and Taito Team just so happened to coincide with our Facebook friends sending me a comp’d Quest 2 to check out the ever-expanding offerings on VR. It was a pleasant surprise to step into the candy-colored world ofPuzzle Bobble VR: Vacation Odysseyas a very chill introduction to the often-disorienting world of VR, and its kid-friendly controls and gameplay made for the perfect testing grounds.
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But don’t think that “kid-friendly” means the game is without its challenges. Much like the best titles in the franchise,Puzzle Bobble VR: Vacation Odysseywill put your bubble-flingin', color-matchin' skills to the test. Like moving from the arcade cabinet, to the home console, to handhelds and mobile devices, playing the familiar game in VR will shift your approach and rewire your hand-eye coordination. Thankfully, the controls are intuitive, relatively easy to master, and downright adorable in their design. Your virtual hands transform into tiny three-clawed dino paws. Your surroundings are replaced by idyllic vacation locales like a sunny beach (also lovely by sunset) or desert ruins, intriguingly complete with a bold rainbow and sounds of an approaching thunderstorm.
So why exactly are the dragon bros shooting bubbles out of a wildly over-engineered bubble gun to dispatch floating 3D shapes of differently colored bubbles in the sky? No idea! But it’s still fun even without an explanation. The challenge here is in not just tackling each level’s particular goal – normally clearing the bubbles within a certain time limit or number of shots – but figuring out new ways to arc your bubbles for maximum clearance. You’ll have ~100 levels, each with up to a three-star rating depending on your skills, and you’ll need more than just your bubble gun to get it done.
I plateaued roughly a dozen levels into the game, which was just about the time I’d earned enough coins to buy a power-up. These are pricey at first, but unlocking them gives you a freebie and a reduced price thereafter. And the power-ups might be the most fun part. They don’t just make the puzzles slightly easier, they incorporate lots of fun movements that’ll have you laughing yourself silly during your VR adventure. (Take, for example, the bomb, which clears a bunch of bubbles but must be grabbed and held while you eat a fiery pepper, only to blow fire on the bomb’s fuse, and then launch it before it explodes; it’s great, silly fun.) Even if you’ve mastered all 100 levels (and I sure haven’t), you’ll face more challenges with 1v1 versus mode, or test yourself by three-starring every available level.
The shortcomings ofPuzzle Bobble VR: Vacation Odysseyare few and far between. At only $20, it’s a nicely priced app that will help you polish your VR skills and have some fun at the same time. It’s also a nice homage to the long-running franchise, even if it strips down quite a bit of extra content to focus on the game’s mechanics itself. The surroundings look and feel like you’re in a highly polished version of aSuper Mario 64-type world, but aside from the occasional bird that flies by (which you may totally plunk out of the air for bonus points), it borders between serene and lifeless. And this is a weird request, but I wish the bubble-gun actually had functional gauges on it instead of static ones; that would have been a very fun and nerdy addition.
Overall,Puzzle Bobble VR: Vacation Odysseyis a fantastic first-time VR app to have some fun with while celebrating 35 years of bubble-bobblin' puzzle-solvin'.
Puzzle Bobble VR: Vacation Odyssey is now available for $19.99 on Oculus Home for the Oculus Quest and Quest 2.
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