System: Wii
Dev: Happy Happening
Pub: Majesco
Release: April 17, 2007
Players: 1-8
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Review by Maria Montoro

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Review Rating Legend
1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
2.5 - 2.9 = Average
3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
3.5 - 3.9 = Good
4.0 - 4.4 = Great
4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
5.0 = The Best

There is a Vs. mode that will allow you to play Bust-a-Move against other players (as long as they're in your living room, no online here). In classic Vs. mode, you would send a bunch of bubbles to your opponent's arena every time you popped a big group of bubbles; however, things have changed a bit in this new version. One plus is that you can play against seven other people at the same time, making a total of eight players in multiplayer mode; the minus is that the game became real chaos. Having eight different arenas on the same screen would have been a bit too much, so now everybody plays in the same, screen-wide arena competing against each other at the same time.

You'll mostly take care of your zone and make sure the bubbles don't reach the danger line; at the same time, you'll have to shoot bubbles towards your opponents' areas to try and get them to touch the danger line before you do. Having three or four players is crazy enough, not to say what happens when it's eight of them! UFOs will randomly but frequently cross the screen from one side to the other. Shooting one of them down and using the special bubble it carries could turn the tables upside down and help those who were losing and affect those who were winning before. Don't let it spoil your plans! Vs. mode could have been more enjoyable if the gameplay happened in a more orderly manner; the way it is in Bust-a-Move Bash! just doesn't do it for me. Oh, well…

It's interesting to see that you can use the Wii-mote, the Nunchuk, or the Classic Controller to play in Vs. or Shooting modes but only the Wii-mote is allowed in Puzzle and Endless modes. Why didn't they just let us choose what we want to use? You figure if you're going to play 500 levels, you might as well play them comfortably. I personally would have chosen the Classic Controller, even though the analog stick doesn't work and you have to use the D-pad instead.

And how did the audio pan out? Here is another great mistake; they thought having one song for each level would be good enough. I'm talking about at least 50-stage levels! Can you imagine what is like to hear the same song stage after stage? If you buy this game, you won't have to just imagine because it's all there is to it! The couple of tunes that you'll hear have a seventies-disco kind of rhythm. I thought it was great when I first heard it, and if only they had added more songs to the playlist, the soundtrack would have actually been noteworthy. I enjoyed hearing the classic Puzzle Bobble tune with a new twist; it's the one that repeats on the third level.

Can I recommend this game? Not much, probably. All in all, Bust-a-Move Bash is just another Bust-a-Move game but with Wii controls and repetitive soundtrack and visuals. It doesn't offer improved gameplay or cool unlockables to keep you motivated, so it's just one more that you should only add to the library if you don't own other versions of Bust-a-Move, if you gotta have them all (like Pokémon), or if playing with the Wii-mote really attracts you. Too bad, it could have been great; like I said before, the potential was there.

By Maria Montoro
CCC Freelance Writer

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