Bubble Bobble

REPLAY

Old games never die. They just sit around for years doing nothing, then come back in a smaller box. JON PILLAR inspects...

The Hit Squad
£3.99
Reviewer: Jon Pillar

Cute games, eh? What can you say about them, apart from "Aawww!" (or possibly "Bleugh"). To be fair though, the simpering niceness of the cuties has often hidden a darn playable game - and as if to prove the point, here comes the grandaddy of them all.

As Bob or Bub (or both if there's a pal handy) you're out to bash up the slightly evil Baron von Blubba. Your sweet little dinosaurs (aawww!) have to blow bubbles at the nasties, then boot them around the screen until they pop and disgorge score-boosting goodies.

Sprinkled around this (very) basic concept are power-ups, oodles of hidden bonuses and a stonking 100 levels of play. All this adds up to a tasty barg, but (strangely enough) it doesn't work very well in one-player mode.

The desire to get to the next level is still there, but to be brutally honest, it gets rather samey. With two players though, it's a completely different game (even though it's still exactly the same, if you see what I mean). The interplay between Bub and Bob is a delight, ranging from planned co-operation to open warfare. Luckily, with extra lives and a continue option, there's plenty of time to make up!

The small but detailed monochrome graphics make the action easy on the eyes, and in the best tradition of cute games there are a whole load of surpnses to discover. Yup, if you haven't guessed by now. this is Megagame material. On your own you'll find it playable enough - team up with another Spec-chum and it's a riot!

WHAT A BARG!

Summertime, summertime, summer, summer, summertime! Hurrah - summer is here! And what better way to celebrate the advent of sunny, carefree days than by locking yourself in your bedroom and playing a load of Speccy games? With the seemingly unstoppable spread of budget software, we here at YS thought it would be quite a wheeze to sort out the brass from the dross. So take your seats and upset your neighbour's popcorn as JON PILLAR whisks you with shameless bias through a roundup of the best £3.99ers around.

PLATFORM GAMES

2. Bubble Bobble
Hit Squad/Issue 69
Reviewer: Jon Pillar

Playability overload in this classic arcade conversion. The two-player game of all captures the feel of the original perfectly. With 100 single-screen levels the game harkens back to the straight playability of the ol' days. Nearly unbeatable.