Game Reviews

Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb

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Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb

You'd think today's volatile political climate would discourage developers from making games where the main character's name is Bomber John. Fortunately, Hudson hasn't bowed to any bureaucratic pressure in revitalising the long-lived Bomberman franchise and recreated it as faithfully as possible.

All good taste aside, however, it would seem the wee explosives expert has been rather tamed by time and doesn't quite provide the dynamic gameplay he once boasted.

The first chink in Bomberman Touch's armour is the text. It doesn't really make a huge difference to the gameplay, but any aspect of a title that exhibits some kind of reduced quality inevitably affects the overall development, and the script writing here is very poor.

A muddled back-story ambles along regarding some form of jungle expedition to an ancient temple or monument, but extracting the key plot points from the inane chatter quickly becomes tedious.

Therefore, choosing a route is pretty random, but once the game begins it's old school Bomberman all the way. The extra width on the (landscape orientated) iPhone screen makes for some bigger mazes than usually seen, which is no bad thing. It's up to you, as Bomber John, to rid each screen of the patrolling nasties and move one step closer to the ambiguous objective.

Dropping a bomb next to the destructible elements of the map blows them up, allowing you to carve a path nearer to the ghosts and witches (or whatever they are) and dispatch them in the same fashion.

The bombs take a few seconds to explode, granting you a little leeway to take cover and, hopefully, plant them just right so the ghoulies wander into the 'plus' shaped explosion. This timing is critical, as the computer controlled enemies seem fairly astute when it comes to predicting the danger of a fizzing fuse, so a fair amount of trial and error is needed to perfect the distance and timing of a fatal explosion.

There's no shortage of levels to work through, and each optional route takes you through some diverse settings. On some levels the bombs yield a greater explosion (requiring you to take more careful cover after setting one off) while enemies are able to pass through obstacles on others, and bear down on poor, manic Bomber John more quickly.

Variety is the strong point of this latest Bomberman incarnation, and should provide a healthy challenge for ardent fans of the franchise.

Although setting a bomb is simply a matter of touching the icon in the bottom corner, controlling Bomber John is less manageable. Touching the screen anywhere highlights a virtual controller, and sliding your finger in different directions from that first point of contact moves Bomber John accordingly.

This works reasonably well under normal circumstances, but navigating the mazes while fleeing from a ticking bomb or an encroaching enemy is decidedly less precise, and you'll regularly find your bomber havering near the corner of a block instead of hiding behind it.

Coupled with the steep difficulty level and significant repetition, Bomberman Touch doesn't showcase either the iPhone or the well-respected canon of the game franchise particularly well. It's certainly not a difficult game to extract some pleasure from, but the scales tip more toward annoyance than satisfaction.

Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb

A frustrating, yet highly challenging maze game that's difficult to immerse yourself in due to unsympathetic controls
Score
Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.