A great puzzle game needs to combine a number of different elements if it wants to capture the imagination. It needs to be familiar but fresh, it needs to keep you on your toes and it needs to contain an inordinate amount of bombs. Okay, the last one isn’t true in all cases, but it definitely applies to Bomb Club.
The game sees you setting off chain reactions of explosions to clear a bunch of misplaced ordinance from a cartoon world. Every level is a grid with some bombs on it. You’ve got a few more to place, and you want to clear the grid to move on to the next challenge.
You’re dealing with new bombs regularly. There are bombs that fire lasers to set off other, distant bombs. There are bombs that fire out gouts of fire. There are special hats you can make the bombs wear to change the way they react.
Everything is presented with a sense of silliness and whimsy, and the titular Bomb Club is a joy to hang out with. The story and their interactions push the game along, and you’ll want to solve the puzzles to find out what happens next.
The puzzles themselves are just the right side of the smart line. You’ll need a few seconds to think, especially if you’re trying to hit all of the fireworks to get the best score. There’s a reset button in the menu if you mess things up, and you need to long press a bomb to set your reaction off, which means it’s rare you’ll do it by accident before you’re ready.
Bomb Club is a smart, addictive and massively entertaining puzzle game that, from the very first explosion, tries to do things differently. And it succeeds, brilliantly. This is one club you’re going to want to sign up for.
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