BubbleBack: The Story of Forward to the Past 2

I'm only happy when I'm grumpy!

When I was much younger, which might as well be sometime 100 years back at this point, as my health sometimes makes it feel like that, I used to ponder the expression aimed at men of a certain age "he's only happy when he's grumpy"; now I've got here, I understand this all too well. I like being grumpy too. So leave me alone and I'll go back to live under my rock. Okay!

As one might imagine then, anything that makes me even think of a smile is well avoided. Reading through the latest issue of BreakSpace I noted that the guys seem to really like this 'ere Bubble Back game for the old Speccy. It has a coveted Ace award from this publication (disclaimer, I'm one of the writers for it, by the way), and it does looks good. Maybe I'll give it a go too, as I missed out on reviewing it for the mag.

Before I continue, it would be somewhat remiss of me not to include some back story, so here goes:

This is the much anticipated follow up to Forward to the Past, in which Dave has attempted time travel, specifically to go back to 2021 (which I recall the UK and much of the world was on lockdown, so why travel back to this time is unknown). As we all know from Star Trek, people who mess with the space time continuum get into all sorts of trouble, so you can get what's happened to Dave here then. No? Well, some evil force has kidnapped him and turn Nate into a bubble dragon from Bubble Bobble, with all of the ferocious abilities of such a formidable creature... err, I mean, he can blow bubbles in your general direction. Well, that can be fatal to at least some of the onscreen roaming baddies anyway.

Of course, it's up to you to save the day. Guide Nate's spritely bubble expelling and bursting dragon to collect 86 bubbles (though not the ones you generate as that'd be too easy); doing so will break the Baron's spell and return everything back to normal, or something. More importanter than this, Dave will be rescued in the process. Right, sounds like a typical excuse to a run-of-the-mill, by-the-numbers platform game to me. Well, yes. And no.

Loading this title nearly got me, turning my glum morning into something cheery and fluffy. The music! So bright, jaunty one might say; I was almost singing along to it, a rendition of "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis & The News. No, not gonna smile... it's just a Speccy game, I've played loads of them. So, it has nice music? Okay. Concentrate. Now to redefine the keys and start the game. And... Finally... I broke. The in game tune is even better than the title music (and there's more than one, depending on the location in the game world) which is mostly a medley of the Back to the Future theme, and Bubble Bobble. This arrangement is excellent, for sure. As for the rest: the graphics are silky smooth and the game play is a delight, responsive, and it's true testament to great design. Aside from this, I appreciate the little touches, the Amstrad Green Screen simulator room, for instance, and the Break Out screen (which brings me to my one complaint; surely one should score points for taking the blocks out before the bouncing ball does?). My conclusion is thus: if you've ever used a Sinclair ZX Spectrum for entertainment purposes, and remember at least some of the 1980s, you must play this game. It's so delightful, so sickly sweet that I cannot help but recommend it wholeheartedly. I mean, if it can make me smile, it must be good, right?

Before I finish this short review, I'd better mention who did what, and where you might get your copy, hadn't I? Right. Bubble Back is carefully and lovingly crafted by Sloanysoft. See sloanysoft.itch.io for this and other titles by the same author. Music is by the award winning Lee Bee, and it's built using something called MPAGD by Jonathan Cauldwell.

That's me done. I've had enough of this cheeriness. I'm going back under my Rock, and I'll bid you a good day.