Bub and Bob are at it again. Although this time it's in a wonderful game called Puzzle Bobble 2x or Bust a move 2x. Taito has made another game that's part of the Bubble Bobble series, this time it's a Tetris style game with a few twists and turns. You've probably seen this title on other platforms, but now it's found it's way to the PC.

Imagine Tetris except instead of blocks falling from the top you have bubbles that are shot from the bottom. Instead of matching up blocks you have to have 3 same color bubbles touching each other, then the bubbles go pop! Then they just fall and disappear and so do the bubbles that where clinging on to them. Similar to Tetris you have a on deck bubble screen telling you what bubble is going to come next so you can plan your strategy ahead. Unlike Tetris you have a limited playing window, the ceiling drops every few seconds or so and if one of your bubbles happens to be shot or ends up below the "line" then your game ends.

There are three different ways of playing Puzzle Bobble. One is a single player "quest" mode where you go through stages and try to get to the ending. You choose different paths and at the end is quite different depending on the path that you choose. The second option is where you play against the computer in a match type situation. The third choice, which in my opinion is the only reason why people get puzzle games, is that you play against your friend split screen. Let me warn you that this is HIGHLY ADDICTING. In the matches for every few extra bubbles you knock off your screen it magically appears on the other person's screen, which adds to the fin factor of getting your friend back for the ten or so bubbles he threw to your side.

The sounds in this game are nothing to be screaming about but what puzzle game has good sound? It's just some usual repeating babble to keep the gamers from saying that there's no sound in the game. The sound is mainly consisted of some Japanese babble and little bloops for the bubble noises. Puzzle Bubble 2x includes the usual bland sounds normally in a puzzle game. But what do you expect anyways some A3d or EAX?

The multiplayer is limited to split screen. Too bad, because this game would be a killer game if it had some TCP/IP or at least some LAN capabilities. But alas you can at least play this game on spilt screen and you can hear you friend yelling and screaming once he sees that your going to add a few more bubbles onto his side, oh lets say about 20 or so.

The bottom line, puzzle games were never meant to be off the wall amazing, graphic and sound wise. That's the reason why puzzle games shine in concept and fun factor, because they don't spend their time developing a fun game and not some insanely realistic and graphically stunning games. They spend their time coming up with additive and fun games, which is something this gaming community needs more of.