This One's Gonna Blow!
(Sony PSP; $39.99; Rated E10+ for violence; http://www.eidos.com/)
(one and a half stars)
Puzzle-based games are a good fit for the portable market. Their quick to get into, easy to get out from, addictive format are great for those who have only a few moments to spare. Plus, they transcend gender an age- which is why games like “Tetris” or “Bejeweled” are so popular.
“Smart Bomb,” however does not fit this mold.
It’s a puzzle-based game, sure. Players, under the guise of an agent from the “Bomb Disposal Unit” proceed through the storyline attempting to track down a mad bomber, while diffusing the explosives he plants along the way. Each bomb/level has a series of puzzles that must be solved in the limited time, or else it’s kaboom!
The story mode adds no environment to the game and only serves as a vehicle to connect puzzles. It’s worsened by the fact that loading sub-par cutscenes slows down a game that should be able to jump into.
The puzzles themselves are uninspired and are variations on classic puzzles we’ve seen before. Whether it’s a Simon-like matching puzzle or connecting gears in order to activate a cranking mechanism, most of them are less than intriguing and there is just not enough variety to keep my interest.
The biggest criminal of “Smart Bomb” is it’s the excruciating time limit in the story mode which, in combination with horribly unforgiving controls, makes solving the puzzles an effort in frustration. Truly, this is a race against the clock, but not in any exciting way- in more of a “I’m going to hurl my PSP through a window because I have to keep replaying the same level” way.
I’d recommend it for hardcore puzzle fanatics, but you’ve played this game already in one form or another. Ultimately, this “Bomb” is a dud.
No comments:
Post a Comment