Review by: Pascal "Saturnman" Vellet

Rating: 7 (out of 10)

Summary:

Actually not much of a sequel, this Tetris-like puzzle game merely adds new characters and options to the already addicting original.

The review:

Bub and Bob are back! Taito's cute mascots from the old arcade hit Bubble Bobble and the original Bust-A-Move (aka Puzzle Bobble) return in Bust-A-Move 2. The sequel is very similar to the original. You still basically try to link any three bubbles of the same color until you wipe out every single one of them. The game is over once a bubble gets crowded over the bottom line. Apart from subtle additions, what's really new with the sequel is the different play modes. One mode pits you against different computer-controlled opponents. This is where a set of new characters are introduced. And perhaps more interesting is the Edit mode. Here you can construct your own levels (one-player levels only) and play with them afterwards. Bust-A-Move 3 better be radically different because if you can construct your own levels in part 2, there's not much use for another similar sequel then!

In terms of graphics, the colorful 2D graphics are adequate for this style of game but that's it. Both arcade Bust-A-Move games ran on the once mighty Neo-Geo hardware. To those unaware, the Neo-Geo system is both a super-charged (and expensive) 16-bit home system and an arcade board. While Neo-Geo games are still being made today, the hardware is already six years old and is really beginning to show its age now. So any Neo-Geo game that is converted to those powerful 32-bit systems of today will look a bit dated, even more so with Bust-A-Move 2 which is among the least ambitious Neo-Geo games around.

Sound effects and music are pretty good. The music is a series of CD tracks with both remixed tunes from the first Bust-A-Move and a couple of new ones as well. Sound effects range from linking bubbles to the various samples of each character. Overall, cute and high-quality.

So there you have it, Bust-A-Move 2 is not by any mean a great leap foward from the original but it is still the best puzzle game on the market, yes, even better than Baku Baku (Saturn, Game Gear, and PC) and Tetris Attack (SNES).