Review: Frozen Bubble for S60 3rd Edition Review
Score:
84%
Version Reviewed: 0.94
Frozen Bubble for S60 3rd Edition
To some extent, this review is completely pointless. Why? Because Frozen Bubble is a great little game that all phone gamers should own, and it's totally, utterly free. You can download Frozen Bubble for all versions of S60 here.
Make sure you select the version that suits your phone! There are three S60 3rd Edition versions:
- 240x320 (called S60 v3 (240x320))
- 352x416 (called S60 v3 (352x416))
- 176x208 (called S60 v3 (176x208))
There is also one S60 1st/2nd Edition 176x208 version (called S60 v1.2 & v2.0).
The game is freeware, but we don't want to let such a nice little bit of software go by without getting a review from AAS, and hopefully this review will draw attention to the game.
Frozen Bubble is an open source version of the popular puzzle/arcade game Puzzle Bobble (also known as Bust-A-Move). You have to fire a coloured bubble from the bottom of the screen towards a collection of coloured bubbles at the top, hoping to make a chain of three or more the same colour. When a same-coloured chain forms, it falls towards the bottom of the screen and disappears, also taking any other bubbles that happen to be clinging to the chain. You win a level when you've cleared it of all its bubbles.
There are two catches: you have no control over which colour bubble appears next, and the playing area's roof descends slowly. If any non-chain bubbles touch the floor of the playing area, you have to start the level all over again.
There are 100 levels in total, and you can exit and save the game at any time by pressing the right soft key.
The graphics are simple but cute, with colourful bubbles and sweet little cartoon penguins, and of course the whole game has an icy frozen look to it. The vertical rectangular playing area suits mobile phone screen shapes perfectly. For those of you who remember the original S60 version, the graphics are now much higher resolution to suit modern 240x320 QVGA screens (but there's also a 176x208 3rd Edition version for N91 and 3250 owners).
The sound is sparse but nice, with amusing digital samples such as an animated penguin snoring if you pause the game. There's no music unfortunately.
The main downsides of the game: Some levels are far too easy, you wonder why they bothered putting them in the game. There's no UIQ version. Unlike the Linux PC version, there's only one game mode.
Overall, this is a game that's very easy to get into, with a good learning curve, lots of levels and great gameplay. Oh yes, and it's completely free. If you like games and you have an S60 phone, you should get Frozen Bubble, it's as simple as that.
AAS Score: 84%
PS: You can see a video of Frozen Bubble in action on an N95 at the Unofficial Nokia Gaming Blog.
About This Review
The game reviewed was the S60 3rd Edition (240x320) version of Frozen Bubble. It was reviewed on a Nokia N95. The game is also available for S60 1st & 2nd Edition phones.
Reviewed by krisse at