What do Jesus, James Bond and Donald Trump have in common? They’re all playable characters in Joel C Scheelar’s crazy — and crazy fun — new game, Bomb Bro’s (out now, free).
Bomb Bro’s is a 2D arena-based shooter that seems to have been designed with pick-up-and-play simplicity foremost in mind. To begin, you just select a character and an arena, and then you’re dropped straight into a chaotic battle against an enemy bro. The goal is simple: kill this little dude more times than he kills you. You use a virtual joystick to move your hero around and dodge attacks, and swipe the screen to aim and fire back. The gameplay isn’t deep, but it is fast-paced, fun and pretty addictive.
Bomb Bro’s packs two modes: single-player and multiplayer. I spent most of my time with the game playing the single-player mode — not by choice, but because multiplayer is a complete and utter ghost town at present. It’s a real shame that there’s nobody online to play against, because the game’s App Store description makes its 2-6 player team-based deathmatches sound like a total blast. I’m really hoping I’ll be able to check one out if and when Bomb Bro’s becomes more popular!
Since it’s a free-to-play title, you might expect Bomb Bro’s to be riddled with ads, timers and IAPs. It’s not. The game is properly free-to-play, and almost all the content — including 8 characters and 5 arenas — is unlocked from the get-go. Trump and a couple of other special bros can only be accessed via IAP (they cost $0.99 apiece), but it’s totally optional and up to you whether you buy them or not.
Verdict
Bomb Bro’s isn’t the deepest or most polished game ever, but it more than makes up for any shortcomings by being ridiculously easy to pick up and explosively fun to play. The only real let down with this free-to-play arena-based shooter is that its multiplayer mode is a total ghost town at present.
