| New Rainbow Islands - review |
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It's almost hard to believe that nearly twenty years have passed since TAITO's Rainbow Islands coin-op was released. It's true though, and like its predecessor, Bubble Bobble, it's a cute and colourful platform game famed for its simple, yet surprisingly deep play mechanics and boasts an astonishing array of scoring strategies and secrets to discover. It's one of the true greats from the 16-bit era and, like Tetris, it remains immortal from the ravages of time despite massive advances in technology.
With that in mind, New Rainbow Islands clearly has a lot to live up to...
A quick look at a screenshot might not suggest it, but the "New" part of the game's title is entirely justified. Some of the level layouts look familiar, as do the enemies, power-ups and collectible goodies, but this DS version is far-removed from the original. The premise of the game remains the same as before with the action taking place on seven themed Islands, with each being split into four rounds and defended by a Boss. The core gameplay is also unchanged with the aim being to guide Bubby or Bobby to the "Goal" at the end of each round, killing any enemies who try and thwart their progress along the way. Just like in the original, killing enemies is mainly done by hitting them with rainbows, or by trapping them inside one before making it collapse.
So far it all sounds very familiar, but the control scheme and play mechanics aren't, and this is where the new stuff lies since it completely changes how the game is played. For one thing, jumping is not possible, and neither is being able to use the rainbows to traverse gaps between platforms. In fact, even simply walking is out of the question in this new version since the player is trapped inside an eternally floating bubble. Thankfully, the bubble's movement can be controlled; either with the d-pad, or by dragging it around with the stylus. Movement of the bubble has to be maintained regularly since there are forces acting against it most of the time – in particular, from the harmful, jagged spikes which populate the play area, as these will draw the bubble towards them like a magnet. However, these spikes aren't everywhere so it's still possible to park the bubble out of harm's way from time to time and concentrate on the enemies. One further thing to note is that unlike the original game, some rounds scroll horizontally from left to right.
The stylus is also what's used to "draw" the rainbow attacks onscreen and since the rainbows have no other use in this version (like being able to walk on them), they don't necessarily have to be perfectly-drawn meaning a quickly-scribbled line will usually be enough to take out the enemies. It's only when the special attacks come into play, that you'll need to make a concerted effort with rainbow-drawing skills...
Holding down one of the shoulder buttons allows you to draw one of the three shapes that have a special effect; draw a star-shaped rainbow and everything onscreen is killed instantly. A triangle on the other hand, will suck any enemies into the middle of it for an easy kill, and if you manage to draw a circle around an enemy, it'll freeze and be able to be thrown in any direction you want with the stylus. In the grand scheme of things, drawing the star- and triangle-shaped rainbows are more of a time-consuming gimmick and not really necessary, but the circle attack is definitely more useful, and actually required if the three secret Islands are to be played – only enemies that are killed by a projectile will be converted into coloured diamonds, and they need to be collected to unlock the secret Islands for a shot at the Boss of Truth.
When the first details about this game emerged, the idea of drawing rainbows on the touchscreen sounded like a good idea and it does indeed work quite well. Wiping out the enemies with a brush stroke is pretty satisfying, and there's a restriction on how often it can be done due to the rainbow power being metered. Rainbow speed and size can be upgraded with the same power-up items from the original game (yellow and red pots), and collecting the red shoes icon will increase movement speed just like before as well. In fact, all of the power-ups and special collectibles that were in the original version of Rainbow Islands are also in this game.
Since movement and the use of rainbows are completely independent from each other, the game does feel like a rather strange mish-mash of ideas to begin with, especially if familiar with the traditional jump and shoot gameplay of the original. However, the fact that this new version is NOT a platform game eventually sinks in, and it becomes more enjoyable.
With the platforms acting merely as obstacles in this version, the levels are arranged in a maze-like fashion to make things challenging. There's an unspecified time limit for each round just like the original game, but this doesn't carry the same importance as before since there is no rising tide to harm you. This lack of impending doom means New Rainbow Islands has a much more relaxed atmosphere that can allow the player to adopt a more safety-first attitude to clearing rounds. Things can still get quite frantic though, especially on later islands when there are lots of spike-laden areas to navigate.
While the touchscreen control suits the game quite well, it's not without its problems; the most obvious and annoying one being the confusion that arises when trying to draw a rainbow in close proximity to Bubby/Bobby - attempting that will only result in you dragging the character which could be costly. Zapping enemies with the stylus can also feel a little sterile.
Like the original, the game is heavily score-based but, unfortunately, any high-scores achieved in the Story mode are not saved; this hampers the game somewhat and reduces the incentive to play for a good score in the first place. Proper score-attacking is instead confined to a separate Infinity mode, where you have 100 seconds to rack up as many points as possible in a small level filled with re-spawning enemies. Because of the meagre time limit, this proves to be only a mild diversion from the main game which is really not that much fun since little skill is involved.
Despite its problems though, the main game is still good fun to play, and pretty-compelling while it lasts. A special mention must be made about the clever Boss battles since they use both screens of the DS, and are nice and varied. There are two secret characters to unlock and there's also a multiplayer option for up to four players, but at the time of writing, this couldn’t be tested.
Overall this is a game that will probably be extremely subjective and it's recommended to try it out before deciding to purchase. Fans of the original will no doubt like it more simply because it's based on Rainbow Islands and shares many of its virtues, but newcomers may find it somewhat lacking.
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System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Arcade
Developer: Dreams
Publisher: TAITO
Players: 1-4
Version: Japan
Reviewed: Apr 2006
Writer: John Henderson
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Pros:
- Drawing rainbows is fun
- Lots of secrets to discover
- Excellent Boss battles
- Nice audio/visuals capture the charm of the original
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Cons:
- Gameplay structure lacks focus
- No high-scores saved in story mode
- Easily completed
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