Gameplay

If you want a game with easy to learn gameplay, you've got one here with Super Bubble Pop. There's a wall of multicolored bubbles that's slowly creeping towards you. You, as one of the two DJ Popper characters available at the start of the game, must launch your own colored bubbles at the advancing wall. You must use your colored bubbles to create matching rows of colored bubbles, which then disappear, creating holes in the wall. Since the game is played in a 3D view, you have to have a good spatial sense so as to make the rows match up either vertically or horizontally. You need to pop enough bubbles to clear the level, while watching out for special power-up bubbles. These power-ups allow you to blast away huge chunks of the wall, or eliminate it entirely, making the rounds go by that much easier.

There are four so-called modes of gameplay, which aren't really all that different. There's the aptly named Training Mode, which will get you started with the game, then the Chilled, Groovin' and HardCore modes. The only differences between the last three modes are the number of colors available to the "wall". In Chilled, for example, there are only three colors of bubble, whereas the HardCore mode utilizes five colors of bubbles, forcing you to work a little harder to make matching rows.

As I've said, the gameplay is really quite basic, but it can get pretty addicting as you advance into the more difficult levels. As the game progresses, obstacles such as concrete blocks appear, making it much more challenging to create your rows of colored bubbles and cause a popping chain-reaction.

Graphics

This is a PSOne title, so you really can't expect much of the graphics. While the Xbox version looks significantly better, this reviewer only had the PSOne version to play with. I won't go into much depth regarding the graphics suffice it to say that on the PSOne they get the job done. There's nothing flashy here, just some chunky character sprites and jagged levels, but what do you expect from a console with a graphics engine as old as the PlayStation's?

Sound

Part of the intended appeal of the game comes from the sound. Jaleco tried to import a mix of techno and electronic music for the soundtrack, which they've done a good job with. Each character has his/her own individual soundtrack, and all of it is fun to listen to. You won't be compelled to open a dance club in your house, but you'll certainly enjoy the soundtrack to Super Bubble Pop.  

There are very few in-game sounds besides those of bubbles popping, but you'll be paying more attention to the soundtrack anyhow, so the rest of the sounds aren't really worth discussing. They are ok, but nothing magical.

Replayability

The idea behind a puzzle title is replay value, which a well-crafted puzzler should have plenty of. While Super Bubble Pop is a good puzzler, the basic gameplay tends to get old after a few hours, and I'd be surprised to find anyone who would keep playing it for more than a week or two. It's in no way a terrible game, but it's a little too basic to hold your attention for very long.

Overall

Super Bubble Pop is by no means a bad game, it is a little simplistic, but overall it's worth picking up as a cheap and fun addition to your puzzle library. You might become bored with it after a few weeks, but until that time, you'll probably have a pretty good time with it. It's no Tetris or Columns, but when's the last time you ran into a puzzler as good as those two anyhow?