COLOR BOMBS Review

Bombs away! Color bombs that is. E-shop exclusive from RCMADIAX looks promising on first appearance with 60 levels on offer all revolving around a puzzle chain-reaction concept. With this in mind and the low-cost of the product there is enough here to make you take a gamble, yet spend a few minutes and you’ll discover it is nothing short of disappointing.

The general premise with Color Bombs is that you have a screen full of paint bombs moving around erratically. Your aim is to set-up a large enough chain to break the your given target. It may sound difficult, but trust me there is little skill to achieving a high score. So little throughout that you’ll barely break a sweat to complete the entire game. By the end I was starting the chain in the position you were automatically given, still passing the required criteria. With no difficulty factor there was little to enjoy and within 45 minutes all levels were complete. For the low price you would think quantity over quality would be the primary concern consequently neither appears present.

Of the 60 levels available they’re split into 3 categories; Normal, advanced and timed. These are all as they sound with advanced being (barely) tougher than normal and timed throwing in a countdown to speed up play. This again is lacking as the timer never really omits any pressure making it redundant. Changing up play by adding more chain reactions or having to achieve a certain pattern to win could have been more entertaining options.

Having gameplay on a widescreen gave the colors the opportunity to show how vibrate they can be on a bigger screen. The colors burst well as they react from the lightest touches with one another, creating this rainbow mess. Though when reaching the later levels where you can chain 10 plus bombs at the same time I did notice the graphical frame rate dip. This is even more noticeable if you reach the high twenties.

Musically we have one contribution by Kevin Macleod. Titled “Decisions” the track itself is a light techno mix that simmers into the backdrop nicely although due to this being continuously repeated, you can easily begin to find it nauseating. More music tracks would have been welcomed, even if there was one in each of the three given modes.

Ideally I would have preferred to see the GamePad integrated more (however I could voice this concern across 99% of Wii U titles). It seems a perfect fit for the stylus and GamePad to act as an optional control for where to drop bombs, yet apart from being used as a second screen the controller is made completely redundant. Shamefully avoiding making use of the Wii U’s main attraction, I felt Color Bombs would have benefited heavily instead of opting out making the experience minimal.

Color Bombs ‘bombs’ in more than one way with a disappointingly simplistic premise that hardly requires any input from the player, none existent GamePad use and an absent difficulty factor. With the whole setup beatable in less than an hour, all Color Bombs does is create a colourful mess that should never be revisited.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo Wii U code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.