| Bubble Shooter HD Free | |
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| Developer | yan zhang |
| Publisher | Hidden Sweet |
| System | iPad |
| Release Date | October, 2010 |
| Mode | Single player only |
| Media | App file |
| Also available | Bubble Shooter Free Bubble Shooter HD Bubble Shooter Pro |
In Bubble Shooter HD Free, players face a continuously descending group of bubbles that make their way down to the bottom of the screen from the top. The player must launch colored balls at the bubbles in hopes of stopping them before they reach the bottom (which will end the game). Successfully connect an appropriate colored ball with two or more bubbles of the same color when the other two (or more) bubbles are all touching each other will result in them being removed from the screen.
The player’s current ball and direction it can be launched at is displayed at the bottom center, while the next ball that will come into play is located to the left of the current ball in use.
Modes[]
Bubble Shooter HD Free has three different modes of gameplay.
- Arcade–each level begins with horizontal rows of bubbles stacked on top of each other (like Breakout). This mode has a certain predetermined number of bubbles that must be removed from each level (represented by a meter at top of the screen) before the player can progress to the next level.
- Classic–rather than having bubbles stacked on top of each other like with the Arcade setting, bubbles can form various shapes, which, even though this can be the fastest of all modes, it can also be the easiest at times, as many bubbles that form a shape that are the same color can all be removed at once with the right colored ball. If there are not enough balls and bubbles of the same color near the end of a level, several balls of the same color will be produced right after the other in order for the player to finish wiping them out so they can move onto the next level.
- Puzzle–this is the slowest of all modes, as, unlike with the other two modes, the bubbles’ formation is not constantly moving, as it takes many seconds of game play before the formation drops down a notch (which is noted when all onscreen bubbles begin shaking as a warning that the formation is about to drop down).
Special balls[]
There are several types of balls that have bonus abilities to affect gameplay.
- Bonus multipliers–these balls will increase the score of when they are matched to the appropriate colored bubbles, marked by a 2x or 4x.
- Freeze screen–these will prevent the formation of bubbles from descending downward for several seconds.
- Knock bubble formation up–matching these with the appropriate colored bubbles will cause the bubble formation to be knocked upwards a notch on the screen.
- Bombs–technically not a ball, although these bombs will destroy several adjoining bubbles when they make contact after being launched, no matter the color(s) of the bubbles it comes into contact with.
- Duo-colored balls–these are balls that have two different colors to them; i. e. they can be half pink and half white, for example. These balls will count as a match to either color of any of the bubbles on a playfield, such as if there are two white bubbles on the playfield and the player is presented with a half white/half pink ball, the player can launch it at the two white bubbles, and the bubbles and the ball will be removed if the launching resulted in the ball successfully making contact with the two bubbles. Or, two pink bubbles can also be removed if this colored ball is launched and connects with the pink bubbles.
- Rainbow ball-this will count as a third bubble when it connects with two other bubbles of the same color.
- Aim ball-time-based, this ball has a shadow indicating where it will end up when it is aimed.
Extra features[]
Bubble Shooter HD Free has a color blind mode where the bubbles have the same look of when the player utilizes the freeze screen action, where the bubbles have various patterns to be able to tell them apart, rather than going strictly by color. With the May, 2013 update, four game save slots were added, along with the ability to choose to play from many starting levels on the Puzzle and Classic versions. There is also the ability to turn off the sounds and/or music to the game, as well as upgrading to the paid version, which removes the ads at the top of the screen, as well as the game having a larger playfield.
Controls[]
- Aim/launch ball–touch screen
- Pause key
- Start new game key (original version; later removed and replaced with Restart during the pause mode)
- Menu key (moved to pause menu later)
- Upgrade key
- Settings key (moved to pause menu later and renamed Setting)
- Help key (added to pause menu later)
Links[]
- Download the game at iTunes
- Official site
- Click on the tabber below for a review.
Review[]
I've lucked out with quite a few "firsts" in my life, such as my very first dark ambient cd, Desiderii Marginis's Songs Over Ruins resulted in me playing it for six months, along with my very first cd of Candlemass's Ancient Dreams being a rather different one of mixing heavy metal with an opera singer!
And, this was my very first app to download of the iPad as well, and it's a good one!
The game is pretty simple, where the magical number of three is involved -- as three lives for games is very common, along with matching three of any kind for a puzzle game, for some reason (why the heck is that?!)-- as all you do is try to match three colors together, and that's it. Not real difficult to grasp there.
The controls can't be beat, the sounds and colors are pretty appealing, and there's three modes to play. Granted, I only play the Arcade version usually, but it's good to have the Puzzle one (even though I will never play it again, it's too slow and boring!) for younger and/or gamers who aren't very good at it.
There's not many problems with the game, although I think it's a bit dumb that you can't access the Menu and other functions if you have the game paused. Why the hell IS this? Granted, it only takes a second to turn off the pause and then press one of those buttons, but I think it's stupid. (Note: this was later changed with an update.) The music might get on peoples' nerves, but you can turn it off (who knows, maybe upgrading to the paid version comes with a complete soundtrack?), and the bug is still around where that one bubble can't be removed, which pops up occasionally (uh, pardon the pun), which is annoying.
Still, this is a good, simple, addicting game, and you can't beat the price! 7/10
(review by Darrylb500)
This article was featured from October - December, 2013.