When Soul Bubbles blew our way for a formal review, we were a bit intrigued by the premise of controlling bubbles with our DS stylus.  I mean who doesn’t remember those fun-filled, lazy summer days blowing bubbles in the yard?  We were ready to see if this family friendly DS title from Eidos’ Secret Stash Games could come close in providing the same level of fun.  

The premise in Soul Bubbles is simple enough.  You are a spirit herder who moves spirits by housing them in bubbles and blowing them (via the stylus) through the different levels in the game.  The objective is to protect the spirits while moving them through various obstacles and ultimately, a gateway cube located at the end of each level.  Fortunately, the game allows you a lot of flexibility when it comes to creating and manipulating bubbles.  By using your stylus, you can create new bubbles or modify them by either splitting, joining or deflating them.  All of these actions are necessary to get through the various obstacles in the game.  For example, narrow passageways force you to split a bubble into smaller size bubbles so you can successfully squeeze them through.  Other times, you have to use a little creativity such as creating a bubble in water so you can blow it over fire that is impeding your progress.  I do wish the game would have made more use of these types of puzzles to give it more variety since the action of bubble blowing does get a bit monotonous.   

Fortunately, there are other diversions such as creatures that can either hinder or help your progress.  The hindering part comes in the form of popping your spirit-protecting bubble, which forces you to herd your spirits back into a new bubble.  The help side of the house is pretty funny since there are times when you need a creature to grab your bubble to pull it over into a new section of the level that you would otherwise not be able to reach.  Another example of the little creatures helping you is to snag an enemy who is about to explode and move them near an impenetrable section and watch them explode.  There goes that obstacle!  Other obstacles in the game such as brush and boulders can be eliminated by using the stylus to brush them away.   

The graphics and sound do a good job of drawing you into the mystical theme of each game world level.  The artwork really shines and makes this one of the best looking games that I have played on the DS.  There are definitely no over-pixilated characters or mundane environments to be found here.  I have no complaints on the sound effects either but the music does tend to get repetitive after awhile. 

While I’m on the topic of downsides, I might as well mention some of the minor quibbles.  The first is the lack of a timer on the main gameplay screen.  The timer is not a big deal since the game gives you a lot of leeway on the length of time to complete a level.  In other words, you don’t have to sweat it out by rushing through each level to get a higher ranking nor is there a set time to finish a level but it would still be nice to see how you’re progressing, especially if you’re trying to beat a previous time.  The ranking itself is also a bit suspect since it doesn’t take much of an effort to earn an “A” score for each level.  For example, I was able to play slowly through a level without grabbing bonuses and I was still able to get a high score.  I guess this will keep “little Timmy” from failing to get a top score, regardless of his skill.  On the flipside, there can be some frustration with getting stuck on levels since sections are hidden until you move through them, which might frustrate those who might get lost in a level.  It is not major as you can switch the level map from the top screen to the bottom and jump around it using the stylus.  This is a handy option for the times when you need to get recalibrated within the level.   

Soul Bubbles is decent enough if you’re looking for a relatively casual game for everyone in your family to enjoy on the DS.  There is not a lot of depth to it but its simplicity and charm make it a worthwhile choice for short pick up and play sessions.