Bombshell (2016)

The story is weak, but the gameplay is fun.

A fast-paced, energetic, deliberately absurd action shooter that’s mostly competent at everything it tries to do. Stunningly crafted, downright epic environments and tight, responsive gamepad controls steal the show. But it certainly doesn’t pull off anything innovative or revolutionary, and the whole experience is dragged down by spiky difficulty, half-baked RPG mechanics, and poorly constructed (though varied) boss battles.

Bombshell is just an old school game that tries some new tricks without having learned them well.

Bombshell is an old school action game. It is fun and has a couple of good ideas but it has a lot of mistakes too. A boring interface, a wrong camera.

A game based on such tacky and cheap premises that it could have been awesome. Unfortunately, behind the fairly good visuals lie a repetitive gameplay, dull characters, dumb AIs and bad design choices.

As much as I wanted to love Bombshell, and in some ways do despite its flaws, I cannot recommend the game in its current state.

Considering the team behind the game, Bombshell should've been much better than this. It feels like an Early Access game, so if you really want to play it we recommend waiting a few months, as many of its flaws could be easily fixed in upcoming patches.

Bombshell is a relatively decent twin-stick shooter. It most certainly isn’t an action role-playing game, like its marketing claims. It’s also weighed down by its shoddy story delivery and by its tedious stages.

The credits promise that «Bombshell will return». Please don’t.

While a few will find some genuine fun here, most may wait for a price drop and seek out other titles to satisfy their craving for a twin-stick shooter.

Bombshell is an action-shooter which fails in the most important aspect in a game of this genre: whether it's entertaining. The game is often dull and uninteresting, enemies’ AI is awful and missions are boring: it’s a shame, since the game offers interesting gunplay. A multiplayer competitive mode would have helped.

The fresh start for 3D Realms has room for improvement. While the foundation is rock solid and the visuals are at least average, Interceptor lost the plot and the grip on the game somewhere.

At its best it doesn't do anything right but to kill thousands of enemies, but at its worse it is a repetitive and generic shooter with failed RPG mechanics, plain poor combat and bland mission design.

Bombshell is a mess, with tedious action, boring level design and redundant RPG elements. Shelly Harrison deserves better.

Bombshell is a broken, boring action game with a tin ear for humour and action that rarely rises above tedium.

Bombshell isn’t the worst game I’ve ever played, but it’s among the most dull and uninteresting. From its cheesy, late-90s alien blasting plot to its absolutely repetitive action, it’s tough to pull out any redeeming qualities. Even assuming its bevy of technical issues get ironed out, this one still isn’t worth your time.

A mildly rubbish shooter. [March 2016, p.80]

A mediocre twin-stick shooter that tries to be funny and fails. [04/2016, p.48]

Supposedly, Bombshell started its life as a Duke Nukem game, yet studio never managed to acquire the license. We're not sure how that game would have turned out, but it probably wouldn't be such an unfinished, bland and painfully unfunny mess as this game.

To put it bluntly, Bombshell is a dud. What once began as something that had potential to become a so-stupid-it’s-awesome classic ended up being merely…well, it isn’t even really that stupid as a whole, just dull.

Bombshell sadly shows its origins, age and bad design choices. It feels dated on release, has too little variety and requires too much back tracking, though this doesn't mean that you can't have some fun with the action, combined with a great selection of hard rock music.

There’s just really not a whole lot going on for Bombshell. The cutscenes look kind of nice, and when you look at the gameplay from a distance it can seem fun, but ultimately what you’re left with is a game that is worth far less than the asking price of thirty dollars.

The gameplay is a wreck, the heroine is lame, the story is ridiculous and the humor is cringe-worthy. Already one of the worst games of the year.

There are RPG elements here – as you go on, you can increase your health, energy, armor or gun power – but honestly, they should’ve been scrapped from the get go. Any resources spent on them would be better used on balancing the game or making non-cringeworthy animations. [Issue#206, p.73]

Bombshell could have been a fine six-hour shooter, but the unfulfilling fetch quests, uninspired firearms, and meddling glitches stretch the story until – like the game’s suicidal aliens – you, too, beg for death.

No amount of nostalgia can save this train-wreck.

An ARPG with weak combat and too many bugs, Bombshell isn’t worth your click-click-clicks.

Bombshell is more "bomb" than anything else, with anemic shooting and lackluster exploration—when bugs aren't tossing you back to the desktop.

One of the worst games to come down the PC pike in some time, Bombshell isn't a return to form for 3D Realms, but a reminder why the publisher was in so much trouble to begin with. A great idea is wasted off of horrible game design, bad graphic errors and a worthless audio experience. Where's Duke Nukem to kick ass when you need him?

As it stands, playing Bombshell for more than an hour at a time is like ingesting a sedative, save for flashes of rage as you fall through the map one more time or are asked to find six more crystals.

Playing Bombshell is like a horrible online date. They had a great profile and pictures, but as soon as you sit down with them, you realize that there’s nothing beneath the surface except crazy.

Bombshell is an overpriced buggy mess of a game, don’t shell out money for this bomb.

I don’t like being disrespected -- and I doubt you do, either. And yet it’s reasonable to feel that way when playing a buggy, bland game with some of the worst writing you’re likely to hear in some time.