Previous Next

Underwurlde, the game from which Bubble Dizzy draws its inspiration, involved using air pockets (bubbles) to travel up a windshaft. You had to jump from one to the other, and they had an annoying habit of bursting after a few seconds, leaving you to either hurriedly leap to another one or else float embarrassingly down to the surface. There were ledges along the way to give you a reasonable chance of completing the thing.

In order to satisfy the plot constraints that are a necessary side effect of flinging Dizzy into one of these things, this particular version takes place underwater. Ah. There must have been a good reason why the people who wrote the original didn't set it underwater. Let's see now... ah yes, because air bubbles cannot, under any circumstances, burst underwater. They burst when they reach the surface, sure, but under the water? Sorry, it just ain't possible. Where would all the air go?

Mind you, computer games are supposed to be all about fantasy aren't they, so let's for the benefit of this review suspend the laws of physics and assume that bubbles can burst underwater. Right. There are eight levels, each supposedly a little trickier than the first. Bubble Dizzy seems pretty easy, as if finishing it wouldn't really require any major amount of commitment. It's also an old game not very convincingly dolled up.

So it's crap, right? Wrong. For some reason, Bubble Dizzy is very moreish. Maybe it's because the effort and anguish of trying to rise to the surface is some sort of sub-conscious metaphor for the life of an individual struggling to rise through the ranks of capitalist society [or maybe not - Ed]. Perhaps it's the shock of encountering a game that presents a real challenge, one where tactics and thinking on your feet count for more than patience and luck.

Then again, it could just be that an ace game is an ace game whatever year it is. And who cares what marine physicists reckon, right?

Overall 80%
A game worth unearthing. Challenge, frustration, disrespect for the laws of science... Yes!