A dramatic overhaul would not appear to be in the cards for Bust-a-Move, which has stuck to the same script — shoot bubbles toward a cluster of bubbles at the top of the screen and match sets of three or more same-colored bubbles to clear them — for ages now. That's doubly true for Space Bust-a-Move, which isn't even the first Bust-a-Move game to appear on the DS.

But within the confines of that formula, Space turns out to be a surprising departure from 2006's plain-named Bust-a-Move DS.

The starkest change comes in the control scheme. The first DS game used a fun touch screen mechanic that allowed you to shoot bubbles with a virtual slingshot, but Space opts for more traditional, button-friendly controls.

Space shifts the action down so that the shooter and the bubble cluster share the same screen, which also alleviates the previous game's biggest problem: that annoying gap between the two screens and the havoc it could wreak on a perfect shot.

Space's entirely nonsensical but wonderful story mode finally gives Bub and Bob some narrative motivation for clearing all those bubbles. It also blesses Space with impressive two-screen boss fights.

Charming though BAM DS was, Space ups the ante in every respect, and the goofy storyline knocks it out of the park.