Previous Next

Some very stupid evil person has decided to dump a whole array of bombs across the world in places of historical importance. As chief goody two shoes you have to defuse all the bombs that are endangering the invaluable places and avoid the advancing nastiness of the alien hordes that have been left in charge of guarding the bombs against such sanctimonious do-gooders as you. Yes, you're right. Bombo is a version of the old favourite Bombjack, the game which Elite attempted to convert to the Commodore.

As in Bombjack each location has a number of platforms superimposed upon the screen where the main action takes place. Playing a little sproing-packed character, you have to kaboing around the screen onto the platforms holding the twenty bombs on every screen. Once all bombs are safely disposed of, the next screen comes into view and you have to do exactly the same again. Aliens are on screen to apprehend you and their stupidity is incalculably large. If you are cunning enough to sneakily move your chap to the right of the screen, then all of the aliens will run off to the left of the screen. That's how stupid they are. Using this ingenious gameplay technique it is possible to avoid the deadly touch of the alien killers. If, however, this complex manoeuvre is beyond your gameplaying techniques then holding the run/stop key down freezes the naughty guys in their tracks. Both of these 'features' have handily been included to help even the most klutz handed of stick wielders.

After a screen is cleared a bonus is given if the bombs have been collected in order, and none if they haven't. The programmer of Bombo must be a jolly japer since sometimes he has the odd little joke with the player. Bonus is given according to the number of bombs that have been collected in order. When our very own Julian Rignall managed to get all the bombs in order, Bombo insisted that only seventeen had been collected. Ha Ha, what a card Mark Greenshields must be!

Last month we had Elite's officially licenced but pretty feeble Bombjack attempt. Now along comes Rino's and it's no better. Why can't anyone program a decent version of the game??? The backdrops on this one are awful and the perspective on the drawn buildings completely screwed up. The sprites aren't anything to write home about either and the whole game plays pretty badly. The only thing really worth mentioning is the WEMUSIC which accompanies each screen - each ditty is great. If you're a Bombjack fan and want a conversion for your computer then take a look at both versions currently available - they're both as bad as each other.

I must say, Bombo is better than Elite's Bombjack, but only marginally and only because the music is better (especially the Egyptian piece) - no cruddy Jean Michel-Jarre rip off to assault the ears, oh no. It's probably WEMUSIC's best to date. However, the graphics and game itself aren't very good, in fact they're awful. Still, Bombo is worth a look since the music is so good.

First the nice bit. The music's very good, especially the Egyptian tune. Now the bad bits, basically that seems to encompass everything else. Yes, Bombo is a hunk of rubbish and it's not even an original hunk of rubbish. Writing a pish game is very easy indeed so there's no need to go stealing ideas from other releases. The only excuse that there really can be is that programmer Mark Greenshields has had his imagination removed. Looking at the way Bombo has been programmed, he's probably had his lobes removed as well. If Bombo was £1.99 I would say 'don't buy this'. Bombo is £7.95 so I'm shouting "Don't buy this!". Get the message?

Presentation 70%
Poor title screen but some useful options.

Graphics 36%
Abstract backdrops and feeble sprites.

Sound 97%
Four excellent WEMUSIC ditties colour a lacklustre game.

Hookability 46%
The powerful soundtrack drags you into the action more than the game itself.

Lastability 45%
More interesting to listen to than play.

Value For Money 46%
Cheaper than Bombjack, but just as crummy.

Overall 47%
A weak implementation of the arcade classic which doesn't play like the real thing. The superb music doesn't quite compensate, though.