PSP World

Smart Bomb

In Smart Bomb, players are faced with a series of 3D puzzles based around diffusing AI bombs. Gamers have to deal with a series of bomb modules split into tiers and each tier must be disabled to unlock the next. As a tier is disabled the player moves closer to the detonator at the core of the bomb which must be deactivated before moving onto a new challenge. Single player action includes story, arcade and challenge modes while multiplayer mode challenges four players in a series of head to head gaming action.

We had yet to see a game live up to the high puzzle standards set by Lumines, and we still haven’t — Smart Bomb may go down as the most irritating game of the year. The puzzles tend to be uninteresting and repetitive, the “3-D” aspect of the game isn’t explored nearly enough — really, this could have been a GBA title, the music doesn’t fit the atmosphere, and the controls are wickedly bad. This is one that should have been either halted during development, or given a lot more time to develop.

Review Round-Up:

IGN: 5.0
“It’s not a total bomb, but for those looking for a balanced and time-consuming puzzle experience, Smart Bomb is more dud than dynamite.”

GameSpot: 4.8
“The visual performance is poor, the puzzles are drab, and the story mode is laughably lame.”

GameSpy: 4.0
“Quite possibly the most frustrating handheld title EVER, Smart Bomb doesn’t have a lot going for it. While it does have some puzzles that appear to be fairly entertaining and challenging, it soon turns into a test of endurance. When playing this game, you’ll often ask yourself, “Would it really be worth $250.00 to throw my PSP against the wall? It sure would feel good!” If it was just a regular controller, it wouldn’t be a question. However, while playing Smart Bomb, it’s really a test of wills not to turn your PSP into a mass of wires.”

Net Jak: 2.3
“There’s only one group of people that I can think would be stupid enough to praise this game, and that’s people who like to pretend that they’re smarter than other people. They could complete the game, and then boast about how much smarter they were because they actually beat all the puzzles, when in actuality, the people who hadn’t played it at all proved to be more intelligent, simply by not playing the game.”

Aggregate Rating: 4.3