Bombshell

[h1][i]“It's broken beyond repair. It's in a million little pieces.”[/i] ~James Frey, A Million Little Pieces[/h1] So. Twin-stick shooters, huh? As [b]Beavis[/b] and [b]Butt-head[/b] would say, twin-stick shooters are cool. And it's not like those are rocket science or something. All you need to do is to make “pew-pew-pew” satisfying. The list of what's [i]not[/i] to do, on the other hand? That thing is quite long. Let's take a look at some most notable examples. Number one – never break the pace. Confusing levels in this kind of entertainment are like puzzles in bullet hell games. Totally out of place. Number two – satisfaction. Every click should make player to go “[i]Oh, yeah![/i]”. Otherwise there's no point. Number three – don't overdo it with physics. Twin-stick shooters are about fun, not realism. Number four – jumping sequences. When it's about twin-stick shooters and platforms, it's like with that bunny from [b]Friends[/b]. No bunny at all. [i]Always no bunny at all![/i] Number five – bugs. There's no game that can benefit from bugs (some speedrunners would disagree, but whatever, you know what I mean), but when it's about fast-paced stuff? You don't want your hero to stuck in a door. Things that rely on some basic mechanics should have those as smooth as [b]Smooth Criminal[/b]. There's more, of course, but you've got the idea. Before starting a project, some basic studies are must. Look at what makes the best games in the genre so good and, well, do that. That's why I'm so surprised with [b]Bombshell[/b]. See, our guys here? [b]Interceptor Entertainment[/b] (later renamed to [b]Slipgate Ironworks[/b])? They've started as copycats. Remember [b]Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded[/b]? A fan-made remake of the good ol' [b]Duke 3D[/b] by [b]3D Realms[/b]? The one that looked so promising that it actually got the attention of [b]3D Realms[/b] and [b]Apogee[/b] themselves, who gave it their official approval, just to ultimately cancel it some time later? It was them. Like I said, the guys started their careers imitating the best. Even their first properly released project, remake of the [b]Apogee[/b]'s [b]Rise of the Triad[/b] was exactly that – an attempt to imitate the original. Up to the point where lots of people disliked it exactly because of how ridiculous it felt thanks to that. I mean. Can't just take the game on quite ancient [b]Wolfenstein 3D[/b] engine and put it in modern(ish) environment, right? Sure, it wasn't the only problem with 2013 remake, but that's the story for another day. For now, let's get back to out question. Why? Why, while being the imitators, they were unable to learn at least something from all the good games in the twin-stick genre? Because you know how much crimes they've committed in [b]Bombshell[/b]? All of them. Each and every one. Well, at least we've got strong female protagonist. Always a good thing to see. Our gal, [b]Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison[/b], is a veteran, she's an amputee, she has badass mechanic arm and she's here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. Unfortunately, that's... where the good things end. Because even the story in [b]Bombshell[/b] is absolutely ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, though, I didn't expect much. If something, this kind of entertainment don't even need complicated story. Heck, since I've already mentioned ol' man [b]Duke[/b], he was just saving ladies from aliens for [i]justice![/i] (insert [b]DeathSpank[/b] quote here). That was the whole thing. But somehow that evil dude who makes cyborgs, all that “[b]Luke[/b], I'm your father!” bull... All that thing that [b]Bombshell[/b] tries to sell us? It just doesn't click. Not funny enough, not crazy enough... Remember how there was [b]Duke Nukem Forever[/b]? With its lame attempts to be funny? Yeah. It's that kind of stuff. Even worse, actually. Remove all the cheesy stuff, add some juicy one-liners – problem solved. But no. Even that turned out to be too much of a task for our guys. The real problem, of course, lies in what I've started with. Let's get back to our list. Number one. Despite being small and straightforward, levels here can cause quite a lot of confusion (don't expect maps from the [b]Deluxe[/b] version to help, if something, those only make things even more confusing). And walking around, trying to figure things out (game actually drops some puzzles on you now and then and, despite being dull as F, those can be pretty confusing, especially thanks to how inconsistent they are)? It just isn't fun. Even less so thanks to how slow this game is (hello, number two). Not only [b]Shelly[/b] moves slower than you'll want her to (pretty quick you'll learn how to spam some moves in order to overcome this problem), regular enemies are way fatter than needed. I mean, come on, [b]Slipgate[/b]! You literally called one of the achievements “This isn't [b]Dark Souls[/b]!”. Why did you make us dance around regular enemies so much? It ruins all the fun! And yes, there's more. Number three – physics. * SIGH * Why? No, seriously, why? Why in the twin-stick shooter should we have enemies with “realistic” physics? Even more so since (here's our number four) this game has quite a lot of jumping sequences, while falling to your death is a thing and there's no save feature (only checkpoints and respawn feature that wants you to pay money for reviving and let me tell you this – money in this game are important and not that easy to make). All those “It's-a me, your mof*cking death!” parts with moving platforms are bad enough, but you know what's even worse? The mof*cking enemies that can push you to your doom. Even when they're already dead. Think about. Being killed by a dead enemy. That's some serious [b]AVGN[/b] material right here. Finally. Let's talk about the bugs. No, seriously. Let's. F*cking. Talk. About. The. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Bugs. If you think I'm furious right now? You're f*cking right I am. Because honestly, I didn't play game [i]this[/i] broken for quite some time. And I've played [b]Cyberpunk[/b] on day one. [b]Shelly[/b] can stuck in objects, [b]Shelly[/b] can stuck in the floor, [b]Shelly[/b] can [i]fall[/i] through the floor (because why the f*ck not, right?), [b]Shelly[/b] can then [i]respawn[/i] under the floor in order to die again right away and guess what? [i]RESPAWN UNDER THE F*CKING FLOOR![/i] Yeah. Despite not having proper save feature, the game can kill you by bug (or trick you into a cheap death, thanks to its terrible level design) and then save you in an infinite death loop. But hey! There's an option to restart the whole level! Bet you'll like it. Spoiler alert – the whole game has, like, three of those. But yeah. Something's telling me you'll play through them more than once. If you won't give up half-way that is. And you'll want to. Because... You guessed it, dog! More bugs. Key objects will become inactive, key items won't work... Even the cheats are bugged! The. F*cking. In-built. Cheats. Are. [i]Bugged![/i] Wow, [b]Slipgate[/b]. Wow. On paper, [b]Bombshell[/b] isn't that bad. Badass lady with the mechanical arm, kicking some butt, fighting the big bosses (again, there are only three of them, but still), collecting weapons, unlocking abilities (aside from other things, there's a sword, which fans of good ol' [b]Take no Prisoners[/b] may enjoy) and leveling up? Why the heck not. Well, because everything I've said above. That's why. The whole thing is a smelly bag of terrible decisions (aside from other things, this game wants you to pay for your ammo, you may guess how much fun it is) and bugs. Both simply annoying and game-breaking ones. I usually try to find at least something good to say about the game, but honestly, with [b]Bombshell[/b]? Aside from failed attempt to create a badass female lead? There's nothing good here. Literally. Nothing. No wonder nobody remembers this game. Even publisher forgot about it. At least, that's why I think it's never on sale. Well, that's one more reason for you not to buy it. Dixi.

Not worth the $40 that it's selling for, not even close. If it weren't for the bugs, maybe it'd be worth $20, in its current state don't pay more than $10. In its current patch I still had to restart a level due to a bug that prevented progress, and you can spot lack of polish particularly in glitchy animations, audio lines that come on at weird times, instances of close-ups as a sort of mini-cutscene that include dialog between you and your arm's AI or other characters where you lose ability to shoot and where enemies are still active and shooting you. Even if there were less bugs, the game still feels repetitive. There's essentially three different environments that you play through and there's not that much variety between each or particularly between the levels within each, so you'll likely get bored of them even though the game shouldn't last much more than 10-12 hours even if you take the time to complete at least some of the secondary objectives. Gameplay-wise the combat can be fun but it doesn't seem like it was well-balanced - you can get by most of the game with just the starting weapon, Ion Maiden, with the railgun upgrades (with which you can one-shot almost every enemy), along with grenades for those occasions where there are more enemies than you can deal with with your current regenerating ammo capacity, or for the few stronger enemies and bosses. Only the bosses and special challenge stages will require you to use other weapons. If you really want to play a dual stick shooter, take a look at the two Lara Croft games, they're much more polished and have more varied environments and gameplay.

Just play Ion Fury.

After finishing Phantom Fury and being quite disappointed with it, I decided to play the very first game in that strange series – Bombshell – which, though, is set in the future years after Ion and Phantom Fury. Initially, this game seemed very promising and I did want to like it and give it a positive review but… The more I played it the more striking its flaws became and good points dwindled… [b]Graphics, music, story[/b]. The game looks nice, especially for an isometric shooter. Music is not something outstanding that you would relisten for days after finishing the game but the tracks are nice and fit the atmosphere. As for the story… It is weird. Of course, I did not expect anything deep and complex like Deus Ex but I also was not counting on getting some family drama plot. However, the story is not the biggest problem of Bombshell – it is there, ok, it’s fine. Plus, even Shelly herself jokes about how cringe it is throughout the game. The much more serious problems lie ahead… [b]Gameplay[/b]. As I have already stated the game felt very promising in the beginning. The gameplay was engaging and new weapons and perks were regularly unlocked. Even though enemies felt like damage sponges, I assumed it was due to me playing on hard and thought it would change for the better as I progressed and upgraded my weapons. Then I purchased beam alt-fire for the Ion Fury (the very first weapon in the game, previously known as Ion Maiden) and it became almost an annihilator for all the enemies in comparison to all other weapons, which, unlike Ion Fury, required ammo to shoot instead of recharging automatically. I, again, thought I was lucky with an upgrade and decided to concentrate on upgrading other weapons to the same level. That was around the end of the first episode… Since then, it all only went downhill… Now, from personal experience to objective facts… In the Phantom Fury review, I said I could characterize that game with one word – “slow”. In the case of Bombshell, this word would be “broken”. While the game has potential and all the elements for a solid isometric shooter, all those elements are severely broken. The absolute best weapon is Ion Fury with beam alt-fire mode, as it just annihilates all the enemies around you and doesn’t require any ammo. The only weapons that do comparable damage are Shellshock and Electrocutioner, which are only unlocked much later in the game. At the same time, all of the weapons do have interesting upgrades and if there was a mechanic to switch between 2 weapon mods instead of choosing only one for the rest of the game, it would make the gameplay even more diverse. However, even though other weapons can do notable damage if upgraded to the max, why spending 10 seconds killing one enemy when you can kill 5 in 2 seconds with a beam? Enemy AI is broken too. Enemies do not do any tactical moves, they just run or jump around, frequently falling into the death pits without your help. They also can just stand in place and silently watch how you shoot them to death (I killed the last boss that way). While there are different types of enemies, most of them are hitscan-ish and levels almost do not have any cover to hide behind, so you mostly have to go backwards until the enemies lose you from their sight and shoot them from the distance. As for the few projectile enemies, here it comes to your powers… There are 4 powers in the game: dash, punch, shield, plasma sword. They are all useful (and could be very useful if not for the leveling system), however, there is one significant problem with the dash. You do not dash the way you walk, you dash the way you look with your cursor, so it is almost impossible to effectively evade projectiles and shoot enemies at the same time. Moreover, you have only one button for using powers, and you have to open a wheel to change them (which you also cannot open during dialogues that can easily start playing during combat). At the same time, all 3 gadgets have separate buttons, while they all could be put on one (hold for wheel, push for use), considering two of them are so rare you will barely ever use them in the game (and you won’t buy them in the shop either because they cost as several weapon upgrades). The leveling system is underdeveloped. You do get interesting new effects for powers as you upgrade them, however, while for the first few levels, you can easily level up 2-3 times on a map, later in the game you barely can do it once in 3-4 maps. Sidequests and trials also barely give you any XP, and you won’t have fun on NG+ either, because it is broken too. Enemies there are not buffed in any way and you get 100 XP points for killing one when you literally need hundreds of thousands to progress to the next level. Also, if you originally played on hard and then start NG+ on normal you won’t get any XP at all. Level design is boring. I initially was skeptical about platforming in an isometric shooter, however, it turned out to be fine, considering the game does not really punish you for death. The real problem is that the map layouts are boring, and there are not many interactable objects. They also are not designed to provide any interesting or challenging combat scenarios and do not differ anyhow between episodes. Only their visual aspects change, and even with that, they are still boring. You will never see any interesting sights or environments: the episode starts in a frozen underground cave with derelict stone structures – it will be like that till the end. [b]Conclusion[/b]. You know, even despite all of the aforementioned issues, I still could give this game a positive review, however, there is one huge significant problem that simply does not let me do it – the price. 3D Realms totally abandoned the game and there haven’t been any discounts for ages! Yes, Bombshell is broken, yet, the gunplay is still fun and I could say fans of isometric shooters would have their few hours of good time if the game was 10$ at max, however, 35$ is just overwhelmingly too much! There is a colossal choice of much better isometric shooters for that price! So, I really cannot fathom a reason why you would buy that piece of broken code unless you do find some unused key for 5-7$. Overall, about the Fury/Bombshell series: just go and play more Ion Fury. Neither Phantom Fury nor Bombshell is worth your money and time unless you are a hardcore fan who wants to dive deep into the series' history and how it grew out of Duke Nukem. Just install mods and custom map for Ion Fury and live merrily, don’t waste your time on those two unfinished games. I am still astonished 3D Realms gave the task of making Ion Fury sequel to Slipgate Ironworks – to the studio that never made a single good game in their entire lifetime! P.S. Since, just as the main game, the achievement system is broken I just decided to use cheat engine and save files. I have no desire to grind the game for hours just to find out the achievement is broken. And I certainly do not have any desire to "challenge" myself by playing NG+ or doing a run without using powers and doing upgrades.

i can acknowledge that this is not a well made game- bad dialogue, pathetic story, average controls, and dumb AI. but, if you're a fan of dumb cheesy action movies morphed into twin stick shooters, you'll enjoy this game. i loved every second with bombshell, so i'll recommend it. however, definitely wait for a sale. it is not worth $35.

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late 2000's jank. but the good jank like Brutal Legend. Also has a cool female protagonist so +10.

Un top-down shooter qui aurait pu être une master-classe mais totalement gaché par certains choix de gameplay & encore blindé de bugs... Des graphismes très Unreal 3 mais assez joli dans l'ensemble. Pas mal de cinématiques & de dialogues mais avec un faible scénario un peu confus qu'on a l'impression de prendre en cours de route (ou d'une suite dont on ne connaîtrai pas l'origine...) Un gameplay dans l’absolu assez satisfaisant & bien explosif avec pas mal d'upgrades d'armes & quelques pouvoirs mais avec des sensations de tirs qui sont faussés... Avec les armes censées être les plus précises (maxigun, ion maiden...), il faudra tirer à côté ou un peu autour pour toucher car très souvent même avec le curseur du viseur (à la souris) sur l’ennemi on ne touchera pas...pour un shooter ça la fout mal... Forcément on préférera les grenades, fusil à pompe etc... pour faire plus de dégats de zone... De même, on perd du cash si on respawn & les checkpoints ne semblent pas cohérents la plupart du temps... (certains bug la caméra ou reset les zones découvertes de la mini-map...etc...) Le tout avec un autre paquet de bugs & de scripts cassés qui ruinent régulièrement le jeu... dont un bon gros directement au prologue où la porte du bureau de la Maison Blanche restait fermée... Ou autres, perso bloqué dans le décor, caméra qui reste bloqué fixe après un mini-Boss, caméra qui reste bloqué en zoom après un respawn, divers murs invisible qui bloquent des passages, des portes visuellement fermés alors qu'elles sont censés être ouvertes (où il faudra dashé au travers pour repasser la où on est passé 5mn avant...), plateformes-élévatrices où on reste bloqué, etc... Sinon le dash & poing chargé sur les ennemis, c'est bien... mais quand il y a des environnements dont on peut tomber de plate-formes en tournant autour des ennemis bof bof... Surtout sur certaines pleines de trou... on n'est jamais sûr si ça passe ou pas... & puis un top-down shooter avec de la plate-forme bancale, c'est un peu moyen... Si rajoute, des problèmes de visibilité avec la caméra & le Hud un peu envahissant..., un rythme très en dent de scie qui alterne entre le rien à l'horizon & de grosses vagues d'ennemis sur ton nez qui sortent de nul part... Bref un top-down shooter assez long si on explore bien tout sur ces 3-4 chapitres, qui a de bon moments & qui pourrais être très bon mais avec des problèmes de gameplay & des bugs à foison parfois bloquant qui oblige de recharger régulièrement tout le niveau... & ce n'est pas ses phases de tourelles à la 3ème personne qui ira le sauver, ni sont histoire anecdotique...

Bombshell was sitting in my backlog since 2017 when i bought it on 90% discount and i finally got to play it. Overall it was fun to play top down shooter, but rough around the edges. Story is exactly what you would expect, 90s B-movie cheese and i have no problems with that. Soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult who later become known for Dusk, Amid Evil, Prodeus, Doom Eternal. Graphics for 8 years old game is amazing, unreal engine 3 pushed pretty far here. Sadly bugs are still present, had to restart from checkpoints few times and once restart Perimeter level because very first mission required to pick up power crystals one of which bugged out. Should've this game came out fairly priced at $24.99 in polished state and maybe even more importantly, after boomer shooter rise, like it's prequel Ion Fury, reception would be much more positive. 39.99$ on release, bugs, lack of interest in this kind of games after disappointing Duke Nukem Forever, no wonder it failed. I can recommend trying out Bombshell (especially after playing Ion Fury) but buy it elsewhere, for some reason there was no discount in 4 years and game absolutely does not worth $34.99, especially since on gog it's $15.99...

Sırf Ion Fury'yi sevdiğim için aldım, gerçekten kötüymüş. Oynanış sıkıcı, fiziklerde ve animayonlarda hatalar var, menüler kötü. Detaylı detaylı yazıyordum sonra aman be dedim sildim. 2016 yapımı, ama o dönem için bile demode. Fiyatı güncellenmeseydi sadece koleksiyon için veya komşu çocuğuna oynatmak için alınabilirdi ama şu an sadece hardcore koleksiyonerler, sarhoşlar ve zevksizler alabilir.