Bombshell (2016)

 PC
User Score
3.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 99 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 99
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 99
  3. Negative: 61 out of 99

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  1. Vladimir1521
    Jan 29, 2016
    0
    This game is piece of **** I got key for review for Russian blog, but first try the game didn't work. After contacting developer he told me my system not good. I try other game, work perfect. I then finally got game booting and it really play like **** I play Fallout 4 on max settings normal. So I try review, but game not fun and not recommend to buy.
  2. Zeriel
    Apr 1, 2016
    0
    Wrote 4 paragraphs explaining why this game is so bad and got a server error. I'll just say that it looks amazing but it's just NOT FUN, the top down perspective has no weight to it and makes the game feel meaningless as a shooter. This feels like a cellphone game ported to PC.
  3. SamHalls2016
    Feb 18, 2016
    4
    So far, Bombshell for the PC is my least favourite video game of 2016. It is buggy, dull, and has terrible writing. At least it's competent at everything it tries to do.
  4. Tharrens
    Feb 3, 2016
    8
    Remind me why we should hate this game again? Because of lame story or writing? Here's the thing: Not every games have to be at a Planescape Torment or The Witcher level of writing quality. There's some game that heavily rely on atmosphere, storytelling and good writing to set up the mood. For some game, the story or characters can actually make or break the game, but here, come on! It's aRemind me why we should hate this game again? Because of lame story or writing? Here's the thing: Not every games have to be at a Planescape Torment or The Witcher level of writing quality. There's some game that heavily rely on atmosphere, storytelling and good writing to set up the mood. For some game, the story or characters can actually make or break the game, but here, come on! It's a action-packed, adrenaline driven, silly twin stick shooter? It doesn't pretend to be a cRPG with great narrative or anything, it's just a top down shooter, and at that, it's pretty good.

    So sure, jokes are hit and miss. Sometime it will grab you a smile, sometime it will feel a bit cringy. Sure, the whole scenario could pretty much be written on a post-it note and sure, Shelly sometime feel like a cliché character, a bit like Duke, but without the clever satire. But who care? It let you turn alien to bloody gibs with satisfying weapons in various environment with fast-paced action. It got some rpg gimmick, some extra-story arena challenge, it's chock-full of references, ranging from Duke Nukem to Iron Maiden and the smooth gameplay seal the deal. What's not to like about it?

    In short:

    The plus or okay:
    - Gameplay is smooth and satisfying
    - Graphics are ok. Nothing great or jawdropping but by all mean, it isn't ugly either. Some place are actually pretty nice thanks to the sometime creative design.

    The minus or less good:
    - Camera is sometime not really good. On some levels, it feels too close from Shelly and prevent you to see mobs. On these levels, you'll rely more on minimap to shoot at things because they are out of your field of view.
    - Yah, writing isn't good. I don't see it very relevant in that kind of game, but still, it's true.

    TL;DR : It's ok. It's a solid 7 for general player. If you like the genre, turn that into a 8, because it's a perfectly decent top-down, frantic shooter.    … Expand
  5. ThecriticGoD
    Mar 15, 2016
    0
    I've probably never seen a game this bad, where do I start... I mean, do I even have to start? Everything in the game is just bad, EVERYTHING, I'm not even kidding, there's not a single thing that is gonna make this game worth it's price, damn, it's not even worth a single euro. This is the only 0 I've ever given, but a very firm and safe one, this is the worst game I've played in my whole life.
  6. Ramstein
    Jan 29, 2016
    2
    I had high hopes for the game but after getting my hands on a key I have to admit it was a big let down. I mean where do I even begin? The story is dull and the acting is terrible (mind you they recast the actors). As for the gameplay the first few maps are not fun to play and even though the weapons and abilities are cool, the RPG aspect is pretty much non existant. It becomes quicklyI had high hopes for the game but after getting my hands on a key I have to admit it was a big let down. I mean where do I even begin? The story is dull and the acting is terrible (mind you they recast the actors). As for the gameplay the first few maps are not fun to play and even though the weapons and abilities are cool, the RPG aspect is pretty much non existant. It becomes quickly repetitive and definitely not worth the pricetag. I also experienced a lot of bugs here and there, but I guess they will patch that soon, unless its like ROTT.… Expand
  7. Prosmooth
    Jan 29, 2016
    2
    Here's a tip for game developers. If you know you've made a game that's not very good--don't name it something that can be used against you in reviews. "Bombshell really bombs" doesn't make a very good review blurb. If you're going to go that route though, you might as well have titled this thing Crapburger. This game stinks.
  8. beerandgame
    Jan 31, 2016
    7
    Bombshell has good graphics, a script of absurd action, unrestrained and somewhat repetitive gameplay, however, is quite new and interesting bet, not a masterpiece, but it is an acceptable game.
  9. atomaweapon
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    It boggles my mind how some reviewers can be so hateful and negative, especially professional game publications. The gamespot review was so snotty and hateful I immediately bought the game and found myself enjoying it. It surely is not earth shattering but it's that mindless fun that you can pick up after a long day and just play. The controls are a little wonky at first but once you getIt boggles my mind how some reviewers can be so hateful and negative, especially professional game publications. The gamespot review was so snotty and hateful I immediately bought the game and found myself enjoying it. It surely is not earth shattering but it's that mindless fun that you can pick up after a long day and just play. The controls are a little wonky at first but once you get the flow it's fun. The story is a little corny and the main character a little much but is solid. You can't go wrong at 30 bucks for this title if this is your type of game. I actually enjoyed it more than DIablo because of the ability to use a controller. The story is fun but goofy but personally I feel it's better than diablos.

    Overall if watching one of the videos remotely entices you, pick it up, it's a fun game by a small developer that will keep you entertained inbetween big budget titles that big gaming publications like gamespot get paid to review high.    … Expand
  10. AragornEstel
    Jan 30, 2016
    9
    Bombshell is an action shooter where you get to play as protagonist, Shelly Harrison. The game is a great throwback to the 90's with a lot of references to that time period . it's clear that the devs went for the kind of cheesy humour that was dominant in many games and movies of that time while still trying to add a serious element to Shell.

    The game controls feel extremely fluent -    Bombshell is an action shooter where you get to play as protagonist, Shelly Harrison. The game is a great throwback to the 90's with a lot of references to that time period . it's clear that the devs went for the kind of cheesy humour that was dominant in many games and movies of that time while still trying to add a serious element to Shell.

    The game controls feel extremely fluent - especially using the Xbox Controller on PC feels great. The graphics are beautifully crafted and through the game you get to visit a number of alien worlds with a lot of diversity in enemies and scenery. Bombshell's robotic arm one of the strong elements of this game, and it gives you a bunch of options and choices and you quickly learn that some weapons are strong against certain enemies while being puny against others.

    The quests in the game can get repetitive, but I found myself coming back to play more and progress through the story. Also, the story itself is perhaps not the strongest, but it definitely works with the 90s sort of feeling you get from the game.

    I would recommend this game to people who enjoy a good action game with a bad-as protagonist.    … Expand
  11. Nukkus
    Feb 2, 2016
    10
    Fantabulous! Bombshell isn't some jaw-dropping ground breaking AAA blockbuster GOTY, but it's damn good at what it does, which is to be a fine-tuned engine of carnage and destruction. This is the type of game that used to get me excited in the past, but upgraded for the modern breed of gamer. Furthermore, we have a smoking hot leading lady who proves you don't have to have excessive assetsFantabulous! Bombshell isn't some jaw-dropping ground breaking AAA blockbuster GOTY, but it's damn good at what it does, which is to be a fine-tuned engine of carnage and destruction. This is the type of game that used to get me excited in the past, but upgraded for the modern breed of gamer. Furthermore, we have a smoking hot leading lady who proves you don't have to have excessive assets on display to be awesome. 9/10… Expand
  12. igamer99
    Jan 30, 2016
    9
    I really enjoyed Bombshell. It's fast paced action from the get-go, clinging you to the screen. The alien worlds are beautiful and I loved the soundtrack.
  13. AndThereItGoes
    Feb 2, 2016
    8
    I was gonna give it 7 but thought an 8 was fair compared to all these bad reviews.

    I had fun playing the game and dont see why I gets all the hate? Mindless shooting and old school cheesy onelines is enough for me to enjoy myself :)
  14. Hadzi
    Jan 31, 2016
    5
    The game itself looked really good before the release and a lot of people were recommending it but after they played it for a few hours then the recommendations stopped. It has a lot of bugs and not so impressive boss fights. Game looked promising but it was not delivered correctly, it looks like it was rushed out of development. Good idea but bad execution of it. I sadly do not recommendThe game itself looked really good before the release and a lot of people were recommending it but after they played it for a few hours then the recommendations stopped. It has a lot of bugs and not so impressive boss fights. Game looked promising but it was not delivered correctly, it looks like it was rushed out of development. Good idea but bad execution of it. I sadly do not recommend this game because it has a bad acting, repetitive, i barely noticed the RPG aspect of the game. There will be patches for the bugs but i it is getting closer to the latest Batman game situation. It is definitely not worth your money… Expand
  15. Omid_Zaraki
    May 29, 2016
    10
    wow
    this game is awsome
    very fun gameplay
    lovely character'
    beautiful environments and level design
    hardcore boss fights
    its all good for me and i play bombshell for hours and i enjoy the game
    thanks to 3d realms for bombshell
  16. Captain_Chaos
    Sep 9, 2016
    6
    Having finished Bombshell, I can readily understand why it has mixed reviews. It's a well-presented top-down, mouse-aim shooter with a a diverse range of weapons and abilities, classic action shooter sensibility and a smattering of elements from FPSs, RPGs and platformers that more or less work well together, but it's also a rather messily executed pile of bugs, occassionally of theHaving finished Bombshell, I can readily understand why it has mixed reviews. It's a well-presented top-down, mouse-aim shooter with a a diverse range of weapons and abilities, classic action shooter sensibility and a smattering of elements from FPSs, RPGs and platformers that more or less work well together, but it's also a rather messily executed pile of bugs, occassionally of the game-breaking variety. It reminds me of nothing if not EYE: Divine Cybermancy in this regard. Enemies disappearing, Shelly getting stuck in places, weird jump physics, mission critical items not being able to be picked up, preventing progress... most egregiously, completing the quest to get the final weapon in the game bugged, and I had no weapon to show for it. I have played a dozen games like Bombshell that weren't half as broken.

    It also drags a bit, padding out it's approximately nine hours of campaign play with oddly spaced checkpoints and forced backtracking to complete sidequests. The combat balance is also odd, with Shelly's power sword ability outperforming most of her firearms. It has an interesting "splitting" mechanic with Shelly's AI-controlled arm, Amiga, being able to detach itself and move independantly of her, but this mechanic is only occasionally used for puzzle solving, and this game has the barest minimum of puzzle difficulty akin to the Duke Nukem games, barring one painful riddle for which the solution can be found here on Steam in the game's only current guide.

    That being said, it has lovely visuals and it is obvious that this game had a lot of heart put into it, and it has been patched since launch- which makes me wonder how badly it ran when it first released. One would hope the forthcoming 1.3 patch will address more of these issues. I got it on sale for about $12, which is a reasonble price. As it is, the base price of thirty is far too steep for what you get.

    It's quite obvious that it was meant to be a Duke Nukem game, but it's honestly better as is. Shelly Harrison is a more interesting character with actual development and internal conflict, rather just Duke with breasts, as her canceled appearance in Duke Nukem Forever might have portrayed her. The music is excellent, and while the NPC voice actors were really phoning it in, Shelly's own VA is pretty good.

    I'm honestly on the fence about Bombshell. If you love top-down shooters as much as I do you will probably find something to like in this game, but if you're a stickler for bug-free gaming you'll want to look elsewhere.    … Expand
  17. MarcioCavalcant
    Aug 7, 2019
    2
    This game is terrible: the controls are a mess, the story is terribly written (corny with an abundant amount of clichés) and the price for all of this is HUGE. This games reminds me of a russian shovelware I once saw being sold at Steam for literally $999, only to be taken out of the store a few days later.
  18. McKerrigan
    Feb 3, 2016
    9
    Bombs: check! Aliens: check! A badass, robot-armed, independent woman with the figurative balls to defy an impossible task singlehandedly: check!

    Bombshell is a fun game that I'd gladly return to time and time again to whack a few. The gameplay is consistent and gives you the fun of an isometric action shooter, whilst also slapping in a few RPG aspects to it. Is the RPG aspect very    Bombs: check! Aliens: check! A badass, robot-armed, independent woman with the figurative balls to defy an impossible task singlehandedly: check!

    Bombshell is a fun game that I'd gladly return to time and time again to whack a few. The gameplay is consistent and gives you the fun of an isometric action shooter, whilst also slapping in a few RPG aspects to it. Is the RPG aspect very apparent? Maybe not in the abundance we know from blockbuster GOTY titles, but it delivers a great gameplay with a Mighty Punch. (Get it? Eh? EH?!)    … Expand
  19. AbeMC
    Dec 10, 2018
    5
    A deliberate b-movie-style action game, Bombshell promises gritty action and tough characters. What it delivers is a kickin’ soundtrack and massive levels that are boringly large to traverse, wrapped in - a 3D environment viewed with an isometric camera? It’s an odd design decision that prevents Bombshell from being a lively action romp and instead makes it tedious and distant. If you canA deliberate b-movie-style action game, Bombshell promises gritty action and tough characters. What it delivers is a kickin’ soundtrack and massive levels that are boringly large to traverse, wrapped in - a 3D environment viewed with an isometric camera? It’s an odd design decision that prevents Bombshell from being a lively action romp and instead makes it tedious and distant. If you can get it for around $5 it’s a satisfactory time-waster, but not much more.
    Total size on my hard-drive: 8.9 GB

    + Full controller support.
    + Graphics are nice (Unreal 3).
    + Despite the nice visuals, runs well. Max settings @1080p averaged between 75-110 fps on my RX 470.
    + Excellent soundtrack.
    + A number of different weapons to use, and switching between them is very fluid.
    + Stunning environments. From lava to snow and ice to sci-fi wonderhell, there’s a lot of detail.
    + Appreciate the under-stated humor. From jokes about fetch-quests to weapon-naming (Shelly’s chain gun is called the “maxigun,” and the missile launcher is referred to as the PMS), the laughs are frequent but easily over-looked. Those who search carefully in one level will find the Temple of Dopefish...

    +/- Voice acting is all over the place, with some great work by Valerie Arem as Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison and the legendary Jon St. John (Duke Nukem) as the villain. The rest vary from average to terrible.
    +/- Even knowing Bombshell is emulating b-movie tropes, the characters (aside from Bombshell herself) mostly fall flat. There’s little that is surprising or convincing, even within the confines of the traditional “evil mastermind” or “misplaced father” tropes.
    +/- Too often you’ll want to pick a weapon and stick with it for most encounters, depending on the level. Like the flamethrower completely wrecks the ice level (as you would expect), and for special powers, why would you use anything other than the bubble shield? Well, the energy sword (basically a lightsaber) inflicts tons of damage, so it makes a good case, but it’s easy to argue in favor of OP weapons. The shotgun (called the “motherflakker”) will be the go-to weapon for most of the game.

    - Checkpoint saving only.
    - Bugged achievements. They don’t always trigger. Then a whole bunch will trigger at once.
    - I experienced a few glitches, most of them involving Shelly getting stuck on the environment. Also had a boss spawn outside the boss arena once. Reloading a checkpoint is the only solution. Health orb would glitch, showing full health when in fact the numerical health readout showed much less. Fell through an elevator once, which then glitched on the upper level, while I respawned on the lower, making it impossible to back-track and complete a side-quest (reloading a checkpoint didn’t fix it).
    - Levels are HUGE. Just traversing them takes a large amount of time, and while there are some unlockable short-cuts, traversal becomes a giant chore. Made worse by the back-tracking that side-missions usually require. It’s nice that there are so many nooks and crannies to explore, but that’s a small compensation.
    - Can’t rotate the camera.
    - Little enemy variety. Actually, the variety itself is decent - each of the four episodes has a few new enemies – but with the levels being so large it feels like you’re fighting the same enemies over and over.
    - Soundtrack may be great, but the size of the levels makes the music loop way too much.

    The decision to go with an isometric camera angle for what should be an fps is a curious one, and, coupled with the size of the levels, really hurts the experience that Bombshell offers. If it had fit into a more traditional fps mold, it could have been more popular – especially given the weapons available and the potential for an old-school, action-based (instead of cover-based) shooter. Thankfully, the next game in the series, Ion Maiden (a prequel), does exactly that. That’s a game that I’m really looking forward to playing, but Bombshell unfortunately leaves a very mixed impression behind. Pick it up if you see it cheap, but expect it to drag on well past its welcome. 5/10    … Expand
  20. Zit
    Nov 5, 2020
    7
    Playable, pretty close to a top game.
    Problems are listed main ones: camera for shooting, speed of Shelly, needs longer cutscenes, bit more in weapons and enemies
    The reason on a 7 I'd give it because its there but needs more, I rather liked this game pretty sure besides cutscenes if a dev team were allowed into this game the problems could be fixed (odds of that happening). It's    Playable, pretty close to a top game.
    Problems are listed main ones: camera for shooting, speed of Shelly, needs longer cutscenes, bit more in weapons and enemies

    The reason on a 7 I'd give it because its there but needs more, I rather liked this game pretty sure besides cutscenes if a dev team were allowed into this game the problems could be fixed (odds of that happening).

    It's like a Indie title went Blockbuster
    The Mario movie.

    You like it personal or hate it for what you see. Personal user understands the hate. lol

    If you play once in a blue moon it isn't too bad.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
43

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 35
  3. Negative: 21 out of 35
  1. CD-Action
    May 1, 2016
    40
    A mediocre twin-stick shooter that tries to be funny and fails. [04/2016, p.48]
  2. Games Master UK
    Mar 19, 2016
    43
    A mildly rubbish shooter. [March 2016, p.80]
  3. PLAY! Zine
    Mar 7, 2016
    40
    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.
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