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Happy Canada Day or Dominion Day as it was originally called back in the early days when Canada was still a dominion of England! Hope you all have a great Canada Day and remember to please not drink and drive! Also, in the US, the “handsfree” laws go into effect so make sure you have a handsfree earpiece of headset when traveling or you’ll may be fined for talking on the phone while driving. Or better yet, turn off your cell phone and let it go to voicemail. Most calls can wait. Regardless, have a safe July 1st!

A BIG THANKS to Alison of Astraware for providing the product for this review!

Astraware has recently released another great looking and entertaining word power game set with an underwater theme. If you love word games, you’ll love Bubble Babble! Not only is it a word power game but it has a very cute looking fish named Wordsmith Smartygills who will entertain and help you test the waters of word empowerment. Smartygills will also reward you with special seashells for your collection when you come up with complex or unusual words!

The object of the game is very simple: create words with the letter bubbles that are floating around before they reach the surface and pop out. The longer and more complex and unusual the word, the higher the points you’ll get. Sound simple? Yes, it does, but don’t forget that you may be fighting against the clock as well in the Challenge play mode. To make it even more fun, Stella Starfish, a wildcard character and multipler bubbles will show up on the screen from time to time. There’s also four different play modes (Challenge, Target, Mystery, Freeplay) to keep you entertained.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

As I’ve already mentioned, the object of the game regardless of the play mode is to connect the letter bubbles to create words. The longer, complicated and unusual the word, the more points you will be rewarded. Wordsmith Smartygills, the fish will also reward you with special seashells for your trophy shell collection when you come up with usual words. There’s also Stella Starfish, who is a wildcard letter that shows up periodically on the screen as well as multipler bubbles that increases your points. Each day, Smartygills will present you with a “word of the day”. If you can make this word during that day, Smartygills will award you a special prize!

There are four different play modes that you can choose from.

Challenge is as the name indicates, is a challenging game. You are running against the clock to create a certain number of words of a certain length. This will definitely appeal to those who like a challenge.

Target is a very straightforward and simple game. Wordsmith Smartygills will present you with a word. Your task is to find and connect the letter bubbles floating around to create it.

Mystery is as the name indicates, a mystery mode. Your task is to find the “hidden” word in the letter bubbles that you see on screen.

Freeplay, as the name indicates is a “free play” mode. You can perpetually play the game for as long as you want without the stress of a running clock or ensuring that valid words are formed. The game simply goes and continues on. You are expected to stay in a stage or level until you have met the criteria of a certain number of words. This is probably the best mode for young players to help them learn words without ever “losing” and allow them to try out and form different combinations of letters to make up a word.

More information (taken from the website):

Challenge your word power in this undersea, bubble-bursting word game!

* Link letter bubbles together to make words and score points
* Full interactive tutorial to teach you how to play with the bubbles
* 4 entertaining play modes: Challenge, Target, Mystery, and Freeplay
* Earn shiny shell rewards for complex or unusual words to complete your collection
* Helpful bonuses including Stella Starfish and multiplier bubbles

Description

Challenge your word power with this undersea bubble-bursting brain teaser! Link together letter bubbles to form words and impress Wordsworth Smartygills - your friendly fishy host! Bubble Babble includes a fun interactive tutorial to teach you how to play with the bubbles and make words from them. Score points for each word you make. Impress Wordsworth with more complex or unusual words and he’ll reward you with shiny shells for your collection!

Bubble Babble has 4 entertaining play modes which are perfect for both adults and children, for all levels of skill or vocabulary:

* Challenge - create a set number of words against the clock,
* Target - reconstruct the separated word from the letter bubbles,
* Mystery - try different permutations of letters to find the hidden word,
* Freeplay - just enjoy making words to boost your points score.

Each day Wordsworth Smartygills will tell you the Word of the Day. Make this word during play to earn a special award!

Use multiplier bubbles to enhance your points score, and get help from Stella Starfish, in her wildcard bubble! Unlock higher difficulty levels as you play - it can help you keep your brain sharp and maybe learn some interesting new words!

Video review

Video at YouTube

Alternative video link: blip.tv

Here are my observations: This is a very fun word power game that will obviously appeal to those who love word games, but also can be a very useful and fun educational tool for young players. Especially in Free play where you can play for as long as you want without losing, this can be a great way to encourage the young players to get a grasp of how words are formed and play around with the letters to form words. As well, it can also aid in increasing your vocabulary or word power by forcing you to find creative ways of forming words with a limited set of letters. Especially in the challenge mode where you are racing against the clock, this can really force you to make those quick decisions and work those brain cells.

I like the idea of making an otherwise boring word game into something a bit different with an underwater concept with a fish and other sea creatures and letter bubbles. Smartygills is quite cute to view, although I would have liked it more had he actually talked rather than make bubble sounds.

I also like the idea of having various different play modes to appeal to a variety of audience and players. Each mode offers something that is unique and appealing.

Enough of praises, here are a few of my opinions of the game.

As mentioned in the video review, I am somewhat annoyed by the statistical details that Smartygills presents at the end of each game. In order to start a new game, I first have to tap a certain number of times to read a lot of statistical information that I may not want to know. If you play the game enough times, you may quickly get tired of tapping through all the information of the longest word that was created, etc. I would suggest that we could have the capability to enable to disable that in the settings.

Next, I do find that the music, however cute it may be originally, can get quite tiring and monotonous after a while. Perhaps, the music can vary a bit so that I don’t keep listening to a repeated tune the entire time I’m playing.

Here are some suggestions. Please keep in mind that I did not play much beyond the Easy level so perhaps my suggestions may already be in the program.

I think that to make the game more challenging especially in the challenge mode is to introduce more sea creatures into the game. Although there is Z, the Pufferfish, who will get in the way and move all your bubbles around, I am thinking more in terms of other creatures that will also do other things. I think that if the Pufferfish were to actually “pop out” the letter bubbles that it could do more damage than simply moving the letters around. Or, other creatures that will “steal” or take away the bubbles, like an octopus that suckers the letters and takes it away or a whale that swallows the bubbles. I don’t know. I’m just thinking. This could add extra challenges to the game play.

Again, since I did not go much beyond the Easy level, it’s very likely that my suggestions have already been implemented in the game.

Regardless, this game can be quite entertaining and educational.

Review Summary

Bubble Babble is a very cute and educational game that will not only entertain you, but also help strengthen your vocabulary and even help the young ones learn the concept of word composition and sharpen their spelling skills. There are four modes of play to choose from (Challenge, Target, Mystery and Free Play) appealing to many different audiences and players. Although the music and game format can get somewhat repetitive after a while, the trophy seashell collection does help keep the interest going. Perhaps adding additional sea creatures that can hinder the letter bubble collecting may be just enough to make this even more entertaining and exciting.

Please consider downloading and purchasing the game from the following sites and help support and keep Palm Discovery running. Thanks!

Astraware

Bubble Babble (all platforms)

Handango

Bubble Babble (Windows Mobile Professional Edition) or all the other Astraware games (for WM Professional Edition) at Handango here

Bubble Babble (Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition) or all the other Astraware games (for WM Smartphone Edition) at Handango here

Bubble Babble (Palm OS) or all the other Astraware games (for Palm OS) at Handango here

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Astraware and Handango and purchases made with the affiliate links in this post and throughout the site will help pay for hosting and maintenance fees for this site as well as paying for future giveaways offered from time to time. Thanks to your generosity, $20 was donated to Plan Canada (formerly Foster Parents Plan International) in 2006 and $85 was donated in 2007. Thanks!

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