Rainbow Islands Revolution Review

We've already had revolutions in Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble thanks to Rising Star Games, and now it's the turn of Rainbow Islands to undergo the treatment. Starring the Bub and Bob characters of Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands was spread across a number of formats back in the late 1980s from the arcades, ZX Spectrum through to the Amiga, NES and beyond. Originally a canon sequel to Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands followed the now human Bub and Bob as they travelled across seven islands. The challenge was simple: throw rainbows to climb the vertical levels, whilst contending with a time limit and the islands' themed enemies.

So after nearly twenty years, how does Rising Star's remake stand compared to the original classic?

Heavily relying on the touch-screen functions of the Nintendo DS, players of Rainbow Islands: Revolution have to achieve the same task as the original, that is, to try and navigate around the themed islands from Insect Island through to Dragon Island and beyond. This time however Bub and Bob (plus two locked secret characters) find themselves trapped in bubbles, and have to be dragged through the vertical levels by the stylus. Expanding upon the original rainbow throwing idea, developers Marvelous Interactive have utilised the power of the touch-screen to enable gamers to draw their own rainbows. In addition to the standard curved rainbows however, players can also draw straight, circular, triangular, and even star(!) shaped rainbows with the latter three having their own special abilities that help deal with enemies. For instance, surrounding an enemy in a circular rainbow will disable them and allow gamers to drag them away from Bub/Bob. Triangle rainbows act as localised black holes and suck enemies into it, allowing players to dispatch of them with a standard rainbow, whilst the special star shaped rainbows kill all enemies across both the screens. In addition, the rainbows remain collapsible (as they did in the original title), though this time the player just has to tap them to cause them to fall. Such changes certainly develop the use of the rainbows themselves but this evolution also has a serious effect on the established gameplay of the title.

Rainbow Islands Revolution may utilise the DS' touch-screen functions, but it completely omits several of the key features that made the original such a classic title. There's no doubt that the visuals or the original were sickeningly garish and dripping in colour, but underlying that was a game with real strategy and complex gameplay elements. The rainbows themselves, for instance, weren't just the offensive weapons that they are in Rainbow Islands: Revolution; back in the original game players would be able to use them as bridges from platform to platform, as well as defensive shields. In Revolution, the platform function is completely negated by the fact that Bub and Bob are encased in a bubble and have to be dragged up the levels by the player; certainly a revolution, the move in fact takes away a major element of the game. Between that, and the emphasis of the rainbow throwing (or drawing in the case of Rainbow Islands DS) as an offensive ability, the game isn't so much of a revolution as a cout d'etat.

But there are more gameplay omissions in Rainbow Islands Revolution than just the rainbows; the original title also had the challenge of getting to the top of the level before the time ran out. When this happened the water level would rise and the enemies would become 'angry', turn red, and move quicker than before. So what happens in this latest version? Let's just say that whilst the enemies still get angry there's a bit of a drought going on...

In a departure for Rising Star Games' Revolution series, Rainbow Islands Revolution doesn't feature the original version of the game, instead going for standalone 'Score Mode' levels where players have to get the highest score within a certain time, and a 'Versus Mode', which sees up to four players compete across the islands. The multiplayer mode is limited to localised play however, and isn't linked to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which would have meant a greater chance of gamers actually experiencing the feature.

This is by far the most disappointing of the Revolution series to date. Whilst the changes made to the game have been done to accommodate the various features of the Nintendo DS, the fact is that it just doesn't feel like Rainbow Islands. Key elements are missing, including the all important strategy of the original, all of which will be evident to Rainbow Islands veterans. There's just not enough there in the end product to keep players interested and it's also a bit of a shame that the original game isn't included for players to be nostalgic over.