Bless the indie developers out there, making all sorts of games with styles that I often haven’t seen before. Granted, you can often see the inspirations from earlier titles in some form, but the net results are often something unexpected. As I love to say though, something new isn’t always necessarily something great, but more often than not the result can at least have some niche appeal for people seeking out an experience off the beaten path.

In the case of GoobnBalloonsDX, its lineage is a little harder to nail down, but you can absolutely feel some vibes from the classic Pang (also known as Buster Bros in the US), as well as possibly some aesthetics from the Bubble Bobble and Bust-a-Move franchises as well. While the specific objectives for any given stage may vary a little bit, ultimately the gameplay revolves around shooting at and popping balloons, with each hit inflating them a little more until they finally pop. There are also some special bubbles floating around that can pop everything on the screen, or are worth more points, but in general the rules and the feel for how things work isn’t terribly hard to pick up on.

Where the game struggles a bit is with variety, though for an arcade-style experience perhaps that isn’t terribly surprising. A little strategy can often go a long way, and once you get used to firing diagonally to help move and contain different balloons you’ll begin building your foundation to work from. Of course, unlockable characters and later levels will continue to give you new options and ways to play at some level, but overall the fundamentals will mostly remain the same. Whether you find that comforting, or perhaps it will test your patience, will be a matter of taste. But even if the concept is quite simple in the end, there’s still something to be said for the game’s pretty fresh approach to using the same basics, but to keep new variations coming pretty consistently.