Soul Bubbles

One thing that the video games industry lacks is concentrated development combined with healthy publicity. For a counter-example, look at Portal; The development of that game was done by a small team of developers at Valve that were recruited directly from game design school because of a very solid student project. They released it alongside Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2 episode 2 only to realize that they had an instant hit on their hands. The tight development of this small, short, but innovative, colorful game produced an award-winning bestseller when exposed to a mass market. Imagine what would have happened had that team just gone indie, made Portal, and released it for the Xbox 360 and PS3. They would be in almost exactly the same position that Mekensleep is in, with their first title Soul Bubbles. The tight development of this small, short, but innovative, colorful, and award-nominated game has produced a very limited run, and likely because it didn't get enough mass market exposure.

This vastly underexposed DS game is a perfect counter-example to the AAA first-person fireworks and NRA-loving franchises, in that it is a tranquil, colorful, fun, and rewarding puzzle game with entirely original gameplay. The story is somewhat negligible, but the simplicity of it matches the simplicity of the game mechanics perfectly. You control a young shaman apprentice, tasked with escorting souls to the afterlife. You do so by encasing them in bubbles that you draw with the stylus and then blow them around using your lungs. You also have different masks that allow you to cut and combine bubbles, and shrink them. In addition, you can draw more bubbles to move around gasses and water to get past obstacles that your souls would either get stuck in or die to. There are eight different worlds that are themed around various shamanic traditions, each with its own unique look, feel, and gameplay tweaks, and is perfectly paced so that you have a small adjustment period to new mechanics before applying them in subsequent levels.

Soul Bubbles was released in 2008 through Eidos Interactive and sold exclusively at Toys 'R' Us--A publishing decision that could only be matched by Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Okay, so Mekensleep is a small team with limited resources and options, so I sympathize. More than anything, I'm disappointed at the total lack of publicity that this game received. Had it gotten more exposure, it could have taken off. The game itself hardly disappoints at all, and I would rate it an incredible if it incorporated a little more story into the gameplay. As is, Soul Bubbles is very memorable, so if you have a few spare dollars knocking around, try to find a copy of this sleeper hit.

Memorable

Deus Ex Human Revolution

DX:HR has a great deal to offer, particularly to cover-based shooter enthusiasts, but I digress. Human revolution has the player time leap to 2027 to assume the role of the dark and brooding Adam Jensen, a former SWAT officer and chief of security for Sarif Industries, a biotech company developing human augmentations. After a long day at the office, Adam's day is shook up in a surprise attack by mercenaries on the labs and the kidnapping of several top scientists including his girlfriend Megan. Severely wounded and on the brink of death, Adam is saved by his boss via augmentation, and brought back for work a half a year later. Still dealing with the trauma of having his limbs replaced, Adam is asked to uncover exactly what happened six months previously by tracking down the hired guns that attacked him.

The stage thus set, Adam is let loose on Detroit (yes, a reference to Robocop is made at one point) and Hengsha Island on the Yangtze River, serving as the two major hubs in which he can explore, engage in side missions, and shop for weapons and augmentations. The gameplay is familiar to anyone who has played Mass Effect, Gears of War, or any other cover-based shooter if you throw in a heavy emphasis on stealth, dialogue, and hacking. While in Mass effect, you'd be asked to play Frogger for 10 seconds, Human Revolution prefers a more original minigame in which you capture network nodes while trying to evade antivirus software. Oh, and lest I forget, several scenes ask you to try to convince another character to do something for you. These are interesting in that they provide a tension-filled insight into the characters, which do have a fair amount of depth, and also give a noticeable contrast to the run-gunning or ninja-sneaking.

With all of this in mind, I can't say that DX:HR is anything other than enjoyable. It handles well, looks and sounds good, and has a variety that I don't see often in big-budget games. However, what holds it back is a lack of thematic consistency. If Adam were to have a significant arc then he'd be more interesting as a role to adopt, but the fact that you get to decide how he feels moment to moment doesn't add anything to either the story or his definition as a character. The supporting cast is much more interesting and varied, with definite personalities that you can uncover more about through side missions. Though this helps keep the story from slogging, the lack of investment that I felt as a player really didn't help my opinion. If you haven't played DX:HR and you want to, I suggest that you do since there's plenty to enjoy, but realize that it will not set your dramatic world alight.

Enjoyable