REVIEW: Dungeons & Bombs on Xbox One

Review by Jon Donnis

Dungeons & Bombs is billed as a challenging puzzle game, where by you need to save what I can only describe as a princess with a beard. I will avoid any trans jokes here as I don't want to be "cancelled" by the humourless mob.

So, I guess this game tries to be a bit Bomberman and a bit Qbert.  You need to get front point A to point B, reach point B and you save the Princess. You find monsters and traps in your way, and you have a set amount of moves to finish the level. If you encounter a monster you lose a move, if you stand on an active trap, you lose a move. I can see what they are trying to do here, and it is a good idea, the problem is, it doesn't work, like some levels are literally impossible to beat if you follow the rules of the game. 

Now that might sound like a strange thing to say, and it is, because purely by accident, I found a huge bug in the game, a bug that upon quickly checking with others who have played the game have also spotted, and this bug basically lets you finish every level. When you drop a bomb, you have 3 moves until it explodes, as long as you don't walk on a trap or touch an enemy. If the bomb goes off as your move counter reaches zero, you then have a few seconds whereby you can quickly run to the Princess, touch them and you pass the level. You only get a few seconds, but clearly this is cheating, but because some of the levels are simply impossible, you will find yourself doing this just to get past them.

It is such a shame as this could have been a much better game, if they removed the set move amounts and just let it be more of a Bomberman clone.

The Good

There is a cool CRT mode, whereby the screen has an effect like you are playing on an old school TV. The Princess with a Beard also made me laugh.

The Bad

The flawed gameplay and "cheat" that literally everyone will find out, even if by accident.

Overall

I really wanted to like this game, and perhaps the first 7 levels out of a potential 50 did interest me, and I did enjoy them, but the huge bug in the game as well as impossible levels just spoil it.

I score this game 3/10. Hopefully they will release a fix as well as improve the levels.

By Jon Donnis

Dungeons & Bombs will be released on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Nintendo Switch™ and Xbox One on February 26'th! Price is 4.99 💵 everywhere!