Tick..Tick..Boom! (Time Bomb By King990)

Time Bomb is a game created by king990

Every now and again, you find that one game that grasps you, the game that you just can�t give up on and stop playing until you complete it. These types of games differ for different people, but personally, I find this is strongest in puzzle and strategy games. Naturally then, when I came across King990�s Time Bomb I became hooked.

King is a relative newcomer to Sploder - with his account only being created 4 months ago - but has quickly secured his name as a fantastic creator with many of his games already on the featured list and undoubtedly more to come. Therefore, it is no surprise that Time Bomb would at least be interesting to play.

Without giving too much away, the game follows a basic storyline of terrorists (creatively named �The Rebels�) planting bombs in certain areas that you must diffuse. While this game wouldn�t get any Oscars for a complex or remotely interesting story, it doesn�t particularly matter in the format that the game presents. That being said, however, it would�ve been nicer to have a more interesting story and to get a feel for the situation that you are actually in, rather than being told you are in said situation but not necessarily getting a feel for what could happen if you don�t defuse the bomb. I also felt that the plot was too similar on every level, with just an added bomb or clue. This brings us nicely onto the subject of gameplay.

The gameplay, like the story was very similar throughout, not too much variation � which would have been nice to see. Understandably, the game was fit on to just 10 levels (though one was taken up undeservedly by an intro, a particular pet peeve of mine) and so there was not as much room for gameplay variation or development. However, with still 9 levels at his disposal, I feel King could have done a bit more to spice up the gameplay just by changing how the player had to handle the bombs. I applaud him for managing to fit a few different ways of diffusing the bomb in, but once again it all felt too familiar; hopefully this can be explored further in a sequel if there ever was one. The puzzles themselves are very good and they keep you interacted and make you want to repeat until you get it right. It would be a rewarding game to get a high score on. Surprisingly, my favourite mechanic was probably the relatively short time limit. With only 35 seconds to complete each round, it proved a real challenge to get everything done in time � even if you knew how to do it.

Now for the overall look of the game. I�m certainly not a master artist � heck I don�t think I�ve made a graphic worth reusing � so my judging of the graphics may not be all that good. In general, the look was good, standard graphics so that you understood what each thing was and didn�t look too childish. Unfortunately, in comparison to another Game Creator, say Shadross for example, these graphics are of a rather low standard and would have difficulty beating any of the other top PPG games. This doesn�t of course mean that the game is unplayable � as I said before the overall look isn�t bad but compared with other games of the standard, it isn�t particularly good either.

In conclusion then, I�d say this game is definitely worth having a look at, especially for those who like puzzle games, as this is by far one of the most attaching I have ever found. Whilst the storyline may not have been the best and the gameplay occasionally samey, the overall play through of the game was fun and rewarding once at the end (albeit a little anticlimactic) and clearly deserves its position on the Featured Games list. A sequel � however unlikely it might be � would be a nice addition as King990 would be able to develop the story and game a bit more, since players are now used to the mechanics and workings of the game. All in all, I�d give this game a solid 7.5/10 for the reasons listed above. I hope this review gave you a good look into the game without too many spoilers and I will (hopefully) see you in the next review.