Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back!

Genre: Platformer / Arcade

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Bubble Bobble 4 Friends, released in 2020 on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, is an Arcade-style platformer in the long-running Bubble Bobble series, which has you taking out enemies in single-screen levels as a bubble-spewing cutesy dragon-like creature.

The presentation in this release uses 3D visuals for characters and backgrounds backed by upbeat music and cheerful voiced exclamations for characters. It works, but there’s nothing inspired here.

For the gameplay, this is pretty much in line with games from earlier in the series: blow bubbles to trap enemies, then pop them. There are optional bonus items you can equip and use, but for the most part this seems like a pretty straightforward extension of the series formula, for better or worse, albeit with the added option to play with up to 4 players in couch co-op.

The one complaint I would make here is that the hit detection seems a bit off, and sometimes bubbles that seem like they should have trapped enemies don’t actually do this, and this actually led to multiple deaths for me while I played the game. Beyond this, I felt the gameplay here felt pretty good overall, though it also seemed pretty shallow.

There’s one more thing I should mention before closing out this review – this game includes a version of the original Bubble Bobble arcade game playable right from the start. While this is a nice addition, I can’t say this bundle feels like it really justifies its $40 price tag even with this bonus.

Overall, I think Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is a decent entry in the Bubble Bobble series, but not one that does anything to drive it forward or make it relevant in the modern day. it mostly plays fine, but it’s extremely shallow, and unless you’re a huge fan of this series, it’s hard for me to recommend this game.

tl;dr – Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is an Arcade-style Platformer that adds 4-player couch co-op and includes a version of the original Bubble Bobble, but otherwise doesn’t do much of interest. This is an enjoyable but very shallow game, and unless you’re a series fan, I don’t think this is worth your time.

Grade: C

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