Bust-a-Move Bash!

Developer: Majesco
Publisher: Taito
System: Wii
Release Date: April 17, 2007
Official Home Page

In a nutshell: Shoot colored balls at other colored balls. On the Wii!

0:01 OMG the manga-fied Bubble Bobble dinosaurs are SO CUTE! The stages to select from are a cityscape, a house and a cupcake/lollipop land. Wha? I'll choose lollipop land, I guess.
0:03 The point-to-aim controls are pretty intuitive and quicker than the old directional ones. Got to have a steady hand though.
0:06 The most puzzling thing about puzzle mode is where it gets off calling itself puzzle mode. There doesn't seem to be much puzzle or strategy to them. Just match the colors. Most stages don't even have a very pressing time limit.
0:10 The game has an annoying habit of giving you one extra orb after you've destroyed all the others of the same color. What am I supposed to do with this?
0:13 After ten rounds, I get an interesting shooting mini-game. I get a fire bubble for my trouble.
0:17 In round 13 I finally have a close call, but save myself with a nice ricochet. *whew*
0:18 I hate how sticky the balls are. They keep latching on the the mass just slightly off from where I want. Annoying.
0:26 After 19 rounds of barely any excitement, I die when a drought of black balls comes. Time to try another mode: Shooting.
0:28 It's just like the mini-game. I figure out that there's a lock-on feature so you can shoot less often. Clever, simple, fun, and over too soon
0:32 Shooting gets old relatively quickly. On to Endless mode.
0:35 In Endless mode, anything you drop off an overhang gets put somewhere useful automatically. A nice touch that encourages more strategy.
0:37 I love the Slip power-up, which slides the bubble to an appropriate place auto-magically if you're off. The whole game should be like this.
0:42 I keep getting more slide power-ups. Now this is more like it. Also ,the bubbly music is the best kind of infectious.
0:49 After 14 minutes of endless mode, I find myself entering a trancelike state. A good sign of a good puzzle game.
0:50 Construction paper fire trucks keep passing by in the background. Distracting.
0:58 On the brink of disaster, I'm saved by a chain that clears half the screen. Gratifying and bewildering to watch.
1:03 I realize I'm over an hour and I should probably get to doing other stuff.

Would I play this game for more than an hour? Yes
Why? Simple, relaxing puzzle gameplay with controls that don't get in the way. Just what I'm looking for.