A once classic doesn't make it automatically good nor can it serve to excuse what really matters
There is Bob and Bub, two 'traveling' dinosaurs who can breath bubbles and use these bubbles to trap and defeat the foes that they fight from level to level. Why? Most importantly, Taito needed to find an original way to rip off the famous Pac-man.
*_____Modes/Gameplay:
In Bubble Bobble Neo there are three modes of play: Classic, Arrange, and Versus. In both Classic and Arrange mode you can play through 100 levels respectively, and these levels gradually become more difficult as you progress higher. Is it any fun, however? Well there are only two commands: jump and bubble blowing. Jumping is to reaching enemies above your character and to bounce on a minimum of four bubbles shaped into a column; bubble blowing is to trap enemies into those bubbles. Other than the two commands the game offers you may jump into a few powerups which give you a short boost in your speed power or to affect an enemy who cannot otherwise be caught in your bubbles. Not much to the game huh?
The game also does not have an online multiplayer feature, but you may play with one other local player in Classic and three other local players in Arrange. Versus mode also allows four localized players, only in it you can trap your friends in your own bubbles so that it becomes a competition in more than just killing more enemies or grabbing more fruit from fallen enemies.
*_____Music/Sound:
Even from the title screen you will hear the music that was--probably--played from the classic arcade Bubble Bobble and a few extra soundtracks in-game as determined by the level or your success progress in it. As for sound you can expect a pretty strong Pac-man approach where the core sound comes from the actions of your avatar, which in this case is the sound of blowing bubbles.
*_____Graphics:
Unimpressive as only the character and enemy models are 3D, but it does an ok job at what isn't 3D by allowing you to easily make out platforms and enemies from the 2D plain.
*_____Achievements/Replay Value:
It shouldn't take you any more than a few hours to complete both of the modes of the game and earn close to 70% of the achievements in them, but as for replay value you will find yourself stuck facing a heavy, heavy load of repetition in those two modes that can only be quelled by a subjective approach to the game.
*_____Overall:
Outside of personality, music, and its classic precedent, Bubble Bobble Neo is really nothing but a cute looking game that is so simple that only repetition without flavor of skill is found, and there's no alternative to that repetition. That is why Taito should have released a fun version like the famous Bust-a-Move, but unfortunately that will either require a long wait or a wait that is even longer than that long wait. In conclusion I have nothing against the series or the creators, it simply just isn't a good game, or even a fair one by any objective standards. Hopefully Taito have already learned this.
My final rating: 5.5/10