BombSquad Review

A very impressive game has dropped onto the Google Play Store this month. It’s name is Bomb Squad by Eric Froemling, made using advanced ragdoll face-plant physics – yes that is their real name. This game has been optimised for the K1 processor with “higher bit-depth rendering, 1080p multisample antialiasing, and 50% more detail and debris in explosions, energy shields, and other effects”. For every other soc you still get a great game with network play and up to 8 players locally. With use of the remote app you can even plug your tablet into the TV and use phones as controllers, so it seems almost everything has been been thought of in this game to bring it in line with console party games.

Bomb Squad has one of the most interesting art styles I’ve seen in mobile games, or in any game for quite a long while if I’m honest. Most of the game is made to look as if it’s been constructed from Playdoh, from the menus to the characters you both play as and end up fighting in battle. The levels however are built with hard materials like wood. When moving your screen about the levels pan just to add to the wow factor, and on the Nvidia Shield Tablet at least the bomb explosions are just beautiful. Every time I play I wonder how this game can possibly be free.

There are also plenty of game modes to choose from, though you’ll probably start with the main campaign which is made up of 10 levels and a further 2 unlockable infinite levels. Each level has 3 stars and 3 achievements for replayability value for any perfectionists or completionists out there. Stars are based on how well you complete the level and achievements are set tasks like not using bombs only fists. The game can be hard but you can call on help from up to 3 friends. Team play lets up to 8 players bash and blow the crap out of each other in fun games such as capture the flag and ice hockey. If your team isn’t around to play you can go for Free-For-All with death matches and other mini games.

To make sure this game lasts Eric Froemling has put in user mods, meaning you can mod the game, make your own mini games and it seems just do about anything. So much so that you can even disable net-play for mods that would give you an advantage – an in built optional Punk Buster style system if you like. If you want to play Bomb Squad with your children (and to be honest why wouldn’t you?) you can select Kid-Friendly Mode that reduces violence and other bits to make it safe for the kiddies. You can have different profiles for shared tablets, change touch screen controls and use Playstation, Xbox and Shield controllers. If you have a great session you can even rewatch it and save it for later to show your friends with the inbuilt replay function. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a direct way to share to YouTube or other services just yet.

Now with almost all free games this one does have in app purchases. Bomb Squads version is to let you buy extra Tickets ranging from 50 at £0.59 to 5000 for £11.95. From what I can tell these are only used for buying extras such as Maps, Skins and Minigames. At this point there is only one minigame available and nothing else. You can also unlock BombSquad Pro for £2.98 which removes the 3 player limit and a few other bits such as removing in-game ads, though these are so well hidden that I didn’t know the game had in game ads until reading what you get with the Pro unlock.

This game at 196mb is worth keeping on any tablet. Its great for quick little battles as well as a party game. I will be hooking my Shield Tablet to my TV and getting a few mates over for the ice hockey mode. Being able to use your phone as controller just shows how powerful this game really is. With the online play and modifications this game really does feel like it has been plucked from the realms of the PC. More than a few developers could learn a lot from this game and what it offers.

Video of me going over some of the features and a bit of gameplay.