''Soul Bubbles'' is a puzzle video game for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

handheld console. It was developed by the French studio Mekensleep, and was published by

Eidos Interactive Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was in ...

in the PAL regions and

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in 2008. It was released in Japan in 2009 by Interchannel under the title .

Gameplay

The core gameplay involves transporting "spirits" within protective bubbles through varying environments. Bubbles are moved by being blown by the main "spirit herder" character based on stylus strokes on the DS touch screen. Bubbles may be created, joined, split, deflate and burst using animal "masks", worn by the spirit herder, again using the touch screen. These mechanics are then used to navigate through levels featuring wind currents, enemies, water, fire, gases, spikes, sticky surfaces, and further complexities. At the same time there are collectible "stardust" items that contribute to the player's end-of-level score, and "calabash" that unlock additional levels.

Plot

The player plays as a young

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

apprentice, whose duty is to care for lost souls. The player must create protective bubbles to keep the souls safe. The game contains eight worlds and 40 levels. The player has to complete each level by moving all the spirits to the Gateway Cube, where the souls will forever rest, while collecting stardust and Calabash.

Development

The team responsible for final game design consists of Olivier Lejade and Omar Cornut, with the help of experienced game developer

Frédérick Raynal Frédérick Raynal (born 1966) is a French video game designer and programmer, notable for his game developments in Infogrames, Adeline Software International and No Cliché. He is married to Yaël Barroz, a fellow game designer, with whom he has ...

. Raynal left the team in spring of 2006, to start working with

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

. The game was initially released in North America exclusively through

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retail stores. In late 2008, a demo of the game was made available on the DS Download Service of the

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Nintendo Channel.

Reception

The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the

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website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. N-Europe described it as a "wonderfully calming" game and feels like the "title the DS was built for". In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of all four sevens for a total of 28 out of 40. The game was a nominee for several Nintendo DS-specific

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awards, including Best Puzzle Game, Best New IP, and Most Innovative Design. It was nominated for the 9th Annual

Game Developers Choice Awards The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...

"Best Debut" award and the

British Academy of Film and Television Arts British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Video Game Awards "Handheld" category. It was number one on

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's 2008 top 5 overlooked games.

References

External links

*
Official website

Official website
{{in lang, ja 2008 video games Eidos Interactive games Nintendo DS games Nintendo DS-only games Puzzle video games Video games developed in France