Just blow up already

There are several things that annoy me on Xbox Indie and one of them are when developers take the best pieces from classic 2D platformers and then make them worse despite it being nearly 30 years since they were around. Properties from classics like Bombjack, Solomons Key and Time Bandit have at some point been butchered on Xbox Indie by lousy coding, uninventive level design and poor graphics work and unfortunately A Bombs Way is one of those games that make’s me want to stick a grenade in my mouth and pull the pin.

 The premise of A Bombs Way is to guide a bomb around a brick layered level where by you have to collect all of the timers to prevent your fuse going off, to stop you are some bugs and animals that look like the end product of a bad acid trip. You can rotate the level by pressing the trigger buttons to help you avoid enemies and help you get the timers easier and you have a jump system that is very similar to Bombjack where you can jump and glide back to the ground.

The problem with A Bombs Way is that there is absolutely no excitement and that the character control feels a little floaty. I’ve had more excitement playing Chess and that’s saying something, because I hate Chess with a passion. The game boasts no online scoreboard and the level variation is so similar that you could be forsaken as Déjà vu. Another problem with the game is the sound. It’s fucking awful. I tend not to swear when I review games, but this warranted it. Imagine an annoying mosquito ringing in your ear or a high pitched fart that gets stuck in the back of your boxer shorts and you’ll be nearer the picture.

A good indicator of the public’s perception of this title is in the fact that Smudged Cat decided to reduce the price of the title from 200 Microsoft points (daylight robbery) to 80 Microsoft points which is the equivalent to the price of a packet of grab bag Walkers crisps. The problem here then is that a grab bag of Walkers crisps seems more appealing, sure they will only last 5 minutes, but least I would have enjoyed them, unlike buying an Indie game that will simply sit on my Xbox hard drive in discontent that I haven’t decided to take it for a spin in years. Don’t be deceived by the box art, this game is woeful.

We Do Tech Score:  1 out of 5