Bomberman Vs Zombies by Contlex is a Bomberman clone that was already available for Android and iPhone, and is now in Windows Phone marketplace, and has been garnering some attention. Is it worth a purchase? Read on…
Gameplay: As in the original Bomberman game, you are a person with infinite supply for explosives, and you have to clear the entire screen off creeps before you are allowed to proceed to the next level. The concept is simple, but the gameplay is surprisingly hard, specially by the standards of today’s game. You have to anticipate the position of the enemies several seconds in advance, and you have to take into account the fact that if they see it in plain sight, they will probably avoid it by taking a different route. While there is some strategy involved here, the first few levels definitely sound like a lot of trial and error, and luck. There is a good variety of different zombies, including skulls and a teleporting zombie. Powerups are not that frequent, and there are negative pickups also.
Controls: I tried playing the game initially with the default swipe controls, unfortunately, it is really difficult to do it properly. When you swipe, the bomberman continues to move in that direction till you tap. In a game that involves constant evasion and movement, this did not work well at all. So I switched to the big D-pad, which worked much better. You may have to occasionally drag the map around manually, when it gets confused and lets the Bomberman escape beyond the screen. The controls were responsive and felt natural.
Music: The sound of the footsteps is really annoying. The setting for the music is a binary on/off, so it’s a pity, because the ambient music in the menus and the screams of the zombies are quite well done.
Graphics: The art is very well done, and all the objects and the environment felt quite cohesive. The gameplay was buttery smooth and had no hiccups at all.
Odd Stuff: For no apparent reason, the free version of the game requires access to the location sensor (it doesn’t have ads either, so that is all the more surprising.) There are a few bugs in the game, like some tutorial text that goes away too fast to read, and “the hatch is open” messages appearing twice (once for getting the key, and once for killing all the zombies).
Overall impression: After a long hiatus from reviewing games on wpsauce, I am truly happy to be returning with a quality title to review. You should definitely pick up this game, because it is among the better ones out there. You may have to mute it before you play, though.
Download the free version or the paid version ($1) from the windows phone marketplace.
