Gamer reviews for Inside Out Thought Bubbles
Bubbling with emotions
Thought bubbles is the latest Disney themed app game available on itunes and google play and is set up as a bubble shooter clone presented with the characters from the movie Inside Out.
The game has all the usual bubble shooter dynamics and more with a range of different requirements to complete each level and various power up to earn and use to help complete those tasks. The running theme of the bubbles being memories and the various unlockable characters helping you to sort, store or discard them as needed.
The game play is a lot of fun, and the characters are engaging. So even for those who have played this kind of game before there is a lot to enjoy, and with 210 levels to date there is plenty to keep you going. The initial levels are mostly tutorials and there are easy get to know it levels dotted along the progress road to introduce new powers, characters, power ups and game modes. Useful for the younger players who the game is aimed at. In general the game looks sounds and plays very well, with bright graphics and easy controls.
The game itself is free to download and despite warning about in game advertising I have not seen any adverts that interrupt your game play. However the game does make the most of its draw to tempt you with in game purchases.
The game has a currently of diamonds that can be purchase for real money. (although a few are rewarded to you to let you get a feel for spending them). The diamonds can be used to get extra lives and extra power ups or to continue in levels where you run out of bubbles. The lives themselves regenerate over time (25 minutes per life) So its not essential to buy these. But as you move through the game and the levels get harder there are some levels that take skill and luck to complete and often the use of the powers ups.
Following the failure of any level where you lose a life you are prompted to spend your diamonds to continue and given hints about using power ups. Useful advice, but if you are allowing a child to play the game its a good idea to restrict those purchases. There is also the option give at certain points to watch a video advert to an in game reward, a single power up for example. When you fist play the game it asks for your age which hopefully will control the range of adverts shown in this case.
Overall this has been a fun game to play and any fans of bubble shooters or even just fans of the movie will probably enjoy it. But the difficulty of some levels and the constant hints towards spending the game currency (and therefore the need to buy more) do leave me with reservations about its suitability for younger children.