Ultra Bust-A-Move may most commonly be compared to other puzzle games such as Tetris, Dr. Mario, or Bejeweled, but I think it more closely resembles a huge plate of French fries… with gobs of chili… melted cheddar cheese… and diced white onions.  The simplicity and addictiveness of the game make it impossible to leave untouched, and even when you know you've absolutely had your last go at it, you suddenly find yourself licking your chops and trying it once more.  Ultra Bust-A-Move has always been the king of all puzzlers, and in my later years coin-op arcades were gaming graveyards unless Taito's bubble-bursting cabinet was among the tired old arcade veterans. 

Ultra Bust-A-Move is somewhat loosely, and I use "loosely" very… well, loosely, based on characters and even core gameplay aspects of Taito's classic Bubble Bobble, which featured bubble-blowing dragons who were too cute for words trapping enemies in their filmy spheres and popping them to their demise.  It was a great concept in videogames and, like its puzzling cousin, was simple to pick up and incredibly difficult to put down.  Sure it was repetitive, but when the gameplay is so much fun to start off with, repetitive doesn't necessarily mean bad.  It's similar to the constant debate over Halo and Halo 2's repetitiveness, sure there is a lot of lengthy corridor fights, but it's such great action, who really cares?  You didn't think I would make it through an Ultra Bust-A-Move review without mentioning Halo 2, did you?

Colored bubbles and trippy characters…

Ultra Bust-A-Move is all about bubbles.  Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.  There are more bubbles here than at a Powerpuff Girls convention.  Seriously, if you have some freakish fear of bubbles, please do not play this game, unless you're phobia doctor is trying the cruel overexposure technique.  So you've got a bunch of bubbles, what do you do with them?  The object is to "shoot" bubbles on the playing board so that (the magical puzzle game number of) three bubbles of the same color are touching, which will burst them.  Of course if more than three are touching, all same-colored bubbles touching will explode, causing some great chain reactions.  Any bubbles connected to the board only by touching the recently burst bubbles will fall to their doom, effectively eliminating them from the level.  And, you guessed it, the object of the game is to clear the board entirely of bubbles.

The shooting mechanism can swivel left and right over almost 180 degrees.  The shooter can be moved at a regular pace with the joystick or moved at a precision pace with the shoulder buttons.  After lining up a shot, just press the A button and the shooter will propel the bubble along the desired path.  The current bubble is shown at the base of the shooter, as though it's locked and loaded in its chamber.  For extra strategy, the next bubble is shown in a sort-of on-deck circle.

Bubbles can be banked off walls for some billiard-like trick shots, but most of the time will be flung on a straight path.  The bubbles lock-in to a crystalline structure for a tight fit, with bubbles on one plane bisected by the outer edges of bubbles on successive planes, so they often move into position rather than stick exactly where they are shot. 

The game ends when a bubble crosses the plane of your shooter.  As bubbles remain unpopped, they creep ever closer in intervals as the entire level moves down a la Space Invaders, albeit not as fast. 

The game does feature some special bubbles that do more than just match colors.  The fire bubble will incinerate anything that touches it and is best shot at clumps of bubbles or bubbles that are threatening the game.  Star bubbles will pop all the bubbles with the same color as the bubble that popped it.  Rainbow bubbles, when popped, turn the color of the bubble that popped it.  Nuisance blocks cannot be removed until all the bubbles touching it have been popped.  These variations on bubbles make the game more fun to play, and thankfully aren't overused.

And that's it.  That's the heart and soul of Bust-A-Move.  Ultra Bust-A-Move is pretty much an Xbox version of previous editions of the franchise, featuring Xbox Live support.  There are tons of different boards to play, and going through all of them will often lose its luster pretty quickly unless you live and die for the game. 

The extra game modes aren't really anything to jump for joy for.  The shot game is a do-or-die single shot to beat the level.  You may be required to bank the bubble off walls or squeeze it through obstacles, but you only get one shot.  It's much less interesting than the game's classic mode, but does challenge even the most precise bubblers.  Seesaw mode adds an interesting dimension to the game by swaying the entire board left or right depending on how many bubbles are on each side.  For example, shoot a few bubbles on the left side and the entire screen will pitch over to the left.  Shoot a few more on the right and the screen will right itself.  Like the shot mode, seesaw mode really isn't more fun than the classic mode.  The last extra mode is blind mode, which doesn't reveal the color of the bubbles until they are actually touched by a bubble shot by the player.  This is the second cruelest feature of the game (see sound and music for the ultimate test of pain) akin to killing real vampires at a goth party – there's no way to differentiate what you're shooting at. 

Seesaw mode leads the pack of extra game modes that you'll only play once.

Multiplayer modes include versus mode, color mode, and count mode.  Versus is the classic two-player version of puzzle games.  As you knock bubbles out of your board, those same bubbles are sent over to your opponent, seriously damaging their game.  Color mode requires players to eliminate bubbles of specific color to score.  Count mode pits two players on one common board, with the winner being he/she who pops the most bubbles. Perhaps its just my philanthropic nature, but I've always been a fan of single-player puzzle games, so the two-player modes never really caught my interest.  The Xbox Live mode is simpler than the game itself – gamers online can play the versus mode against each other and select from different levels of opponents.

The graphics of Ultra Bust-A-Move are exactly what you'd expect from a puzzler from Japan.  There are several characters to choose from, and if anyone can tell me their purpose, I'll give them a copy of the game.  Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble have been given the axe, but there are twelve other characters in the game (who unfortunately lack any personality).  They range from figures that look like offspring from a tequila-fueled tryst in Tijuana between Alice in Wonderland characters and Pokemon to the entire lineup of "so cute they'll make you puke" Sanrio characters mixed into one.  The backgrounds are also entirely J-pop and rotate counter-clockwise and encompass everything from gingerbread men and smiling candy canes to haunted cemeteries with adorable little creatures.  It's all a little too LSD-inspired even for me, and a gamer's best bet is to concentrate on the bubbles. 

If you ever have a roommate that annoys the stuffing out of you, there's an easy way to get him/her back.  First, buy a copy of Ultra Bust-A-Move.  Next, get your Discman or iPod out and put your headphones on at a high level.  Then, begin the game and turn the sound up as loud as you possibly can.  Finally, alternate between letting the bubbles approach game-ending level to speed up the music to a throat-slitting rate and being at a comfortable distance slowing the music down.  It's bound to send a roommate packing for the door or topping themselves with a well-placed ice pick.  The music is ridden with the annoyance of "It's a Small World" times a thousand, and its tempo changes can probably cause epileptic fits and heart palpitations.  Aside from the tunes, the rest of the audio is fairly standard, but is still best muted.

Maybe, but everyone loses when the sound is turned up.

Ultra Bust-A-Move is probably the best puzzle game on the Xbox now, and the first Xbox version of the Bust-A-Move series.  Fans of the series who have been waiting for an Xbox version should go and pick this one up… it'll quench the bubble-popping thirst of most fans of the franchise and it includes an on-line portion.  But the biggest reason to get the game?  It's only twenty bucks.

Ultra Bust-A-Move is rated "E" for Everyone.

Gameplay: 8.5
Those familiar with the series will have no problems jumping right into the game and will see that the game has thankfully not changed a bit.  Those looking for more than the past iterations won't find it here – the game still incorporates the simple interface and controls from the past, but that's a good thing.  

Graphics: 7.5
There are more colors here than a hippy's closet.  The graphics are very "cute" and explode off the screen in a rainbow of colors.  While the backgrounds are stylistically very cool to look at, they can induce nausea in a matter of minutes.  The characters are barely noticeable because of their lack of importance.  They'll jump for joy when you win, and sulk when you lose, but you'll probably be too mesmerized by the spinning background to notice. 

Sound: 3.0
Please turn it off!  Get it out of my head!

Difficulty: Medium
The game craftily tricks gamers into thinking it's easy, but soon will become as challenging as any other puzzler out there.

Concept: 7.5
It's basically the same exact thing as its predecessors, and should please new Bust-A-Move fans but be more of the same to veterans.

Multiplayer: 7.2
It's fun to play online if you can find a match, but it's not totally necessary.  Almost all of my enjoyment of the game came from the single-player mode.

Overall: 7.4
It's a Bust-A-Move game for the Xbox for only twenty bucks.  There's no added features save for Xbox Live support, but the game proves itself to still remain addictive, challenging, and enjoyable even after all these years.  Ultra Bust-A-Move is a good option for younger audiences or those who prefer the serenity of popping bubbles to xenocide of aliens.