Nintendo's DS handheld gets yet another classic gaming franchise that tries to do something a little different with the hardware – and this time it actually succeeds. Bust-a-Move DS takes the extremely intuitive and addictive play of the Bust-a-Move franchise and hooks it up with a new play interface that immediately gives the game a completely new feel. While some fans of this just-one-more-game puzzler may find the transition hard, others will find it brilliant.

As many longtime gamers know, Bust-a-Move is the classic arcade game from Taito that has the player flinging different colored balloons from a central launcher located at the bottom of the screen at a stack of balloons suspended from the top of the screen in an attempt to match three balloons of the same color and make them pop. In the original game, each screen presented a different puzzle to be solved. It was a puzzle because the fewer balloons you used to clear the screen, the higher your resulting score. (Having played several versions of this game, I can tell you there was at least one screen in a version that could actually be cleared in about a second with one well-placed balloon.) If you took too long, the balloons dropped a little closer to the launcher until they dropped below a set level and the game ended. Bust-a-Move continues to be a game of angles: precise launching of the balloon directly at a like-colored balloon in the floating stack or bouncing it off the wall to make the connection is the only way to succeed.

Bust-a-Move DS carries on this simple play mechanic. In the puzzle mode, which is where most players will spend the majority of their play time, there are a total of 500 puzzles, some initially open and others unlockable. That’s lots of puzzles to play and replay to get your score up. Another single-player mode is called Endless. In this mode the balloons just keep inexorably marching down the screen until you can no longer clear them fast enough and you are overwhelmed. It is a bit like a Tetris game where the blocks just keep falling until the screen tops up... only in reverse.

As has been the norm with newer versions of Bust-a-Move, the DS game offers multiplayer options that allow players to compete for score and power-ups that sabotage their opponent’s efforts. Bust-a-Move DS offers games against the CPU or human players through the DS’ same-room wireless connection. Sorry, no WiFi support with this one.

Anyone who has played a Bust-a-Move game before is probably thinking, "All that sounds almost exactly like every other Bust-a-Move game ever made. Is there anything really different about it?" The answer to that is a resounding, "Yes!"

Where Bust-a-Move DS departs from its predecessors is in its control scheme. In every other version of this game the aiming of the launcher has been accomplished with a joystick or directional pad. In the DS version you can use the directional pad and buttons, but the most fun is to be had by investing some time in the new touch screen control. On the DS, the balloon is loaded into the launcher. The player then uses the stylus to pull the balloon down as though it were a rock in a slingshot. Moving the stylus left and right changes the angle of launch and lifting the stylus off the screen releases the balloon.

It sounds more convoluted than it is. Where other versions of Bust-a-Move have only shown a dotted line depicting the path of balloon flight in the first puzzle to give you some angle training, the DS version always has a line of flight. Before you think this would make the game too easy, it must be understood that the DS line only goes a little above the dead line that ends the game. This of course means you can’t see the balloon’s ultimate destination unless the balloon stack has gotten very close – at which time you’re in dire straits anyway and need all the help you can get.

In my house, my wife is the hardcore Bust-a-Move player. (She so monopolized my Neo Geo Pocket Color with the game that I was forced to buy a second system for myself.) She claims the new launching system is good, but it puts the advanced player in the position of learning a whole new way to play and, at least initially, playing at the level of a beginner. For her that is fun and exciting. For other hardcore Bust-a-Move players it could be a source of frustration.

Either way, you better get used to the touch screen interface if you want to play on the DS. For purposes of this review, I played a handful of games with the D-pad/button configuration. I’m here to tell you, the D-pad is no where near as precise as the touch screen for getting the close angles.

In the presentation department Bust-a-Move DS is nothing new. The graphics are still colorful and simplistic. The game is played over both screens, with the launcher in the bottom screen and the entire balloon stack in the top screen. Sound is okay with some catchy but repetitive tunes to play to.