Review: Bust-a-Move for Nintendo DS

The Bust-a-Move series of games has enjoyed a long and fruitful life on various consoles over the past ten years. Taking the characters from the popular Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Island games and putting them in a puzzler seems to have paid off. The latest instalment brings the classic style of Bust-a-Move gameplay to the DS with excellent results. You use the stylus on the bottom screen to shoot multicoloured balls (catapult-style) into the top screen. When you stick three balls of the same colour together they disappear and the game ends when the top screen is clear.

The Bust-a-Move style gameplay works well on the DS's touch-screen. Though many might find it a little too sensitive at first, it offers excellent, highly accurate aiming which is absolutely necessary in trying to get the quickest times and the highest scores. There are more than two hundred different puzzles to solve, and a great wireless multi-player, but sadly the package is quite sparse after that. The other thing that should be said is that Bust-a-Move is entering a crowded market on the DS, and probably won't offer much to people who already own games like Meteos and Zoo Keeper (or those who are saving up for Tetris!)

All in all, a worthy, albeit vanilla, Bust-a-Move title for the DS that fans or puzzle fans in general will enjoy.

Review by Eliot Gurrin. Bust-a-Move was developed by Taito/Happy Happening and costs £29.99. Bytes: Rebooted score 7/10