Bit o' the Bubbly
In Soul Bubbles, you play as a young shaman charged with protecting tiny and delicate souls. You do this by encapsulating them in protective bubbles, thus shielding them from the dangers of the world. Of course, these souls have something of an adventurous spirit and are difficult to corral, so you may find that unorthodox bubble manipulation is required to ensure that the souls don't come to harm.
This is where you'll find the stylus-based controls particularly helpful. In order to create a bubble around the spirits, you just draw one, simple as that. The trick is that you'll have to move the souls from one place to another through a variety of bizarre obstacles and dangerous, soul-devouring predators. Some challenges are as basic as squeezing your soul-filled bubble through a narrow corridor, but that's easily accomplished by draining air out of your bubble by gently pricking it with the tip of your stylus.
Other difficulties require more direct measures, and your collection of little souls can be a tempting target for the crueler creatures of the world. Birds, always on the lookout for tasty souls with their pitch-black, beady eyes, must be eliminated by quickly jabbing them with your stylus. Some of these birds have the ability to toughen their skins, making them as hard as stone, so you'll have to slash them in half with the stylus as simple stabs won't hurt them.
Environmental hazards such as spikes which can puncture your delicate bubbles or tendrils which will grasp and render your bubbles immobile can also cause trouble. Careful navigation is required to move your precious souls through the eight different spirit worlds.
Fortunately, your bubbles aren't just for shepherding souls. You can fill them with water that can in turn be used to extinguish roaring flames so that your souls can pass without getting singed. Noxious gases can be captured in bubbles and then ignited to create explosions capable of destroying environmental obstacles. Although souls will gradually die if deprived of the protective walls of your bubbles, they will begin to glow as you collect star dust littered throughout each level. This star dust will cause your souls to glow and illuminate new areas of the level and help guide the souls to safety.
Sporting roughly 40 levels of this bubble-oriented gameplay, Soul Bubbles could be the next great puzzler on the DS. The bubbling begins in mid-June.
