Boombots is basically an arena fighter, much like
Unholy War or the old
Star Control games (well,
Star Control 3 as well). You’re thrown into an arena with another Boombot, and the last one standing wins. Every Boombot has various kinds of attacks, from missiles to machine guns, all of which are accessible with single button presses. You can deflect missiles to keep them from hitting you, and you can also grab your opponent and do various close-up attacks that do varying amounts of damage. These close-ups have really neat “cut-scenes,” but sometimes the A.I. overuses them and you just get really tired of seeing the same move over and over and over. Ah, well. Most of the time the A.I. is pretty solid, but as with any game like this, the real fun comes from playing with friends.
All the while, you can pick up little glowing power-ups. Any attack uses a little bit of this yellow energy, but if you succeed in filling up three bars worth of energy, you go “Mongo,” which effectively means you can kick the enemy’s ass in a few seconds flat. Part of the game is scrambling to make sure your opponent doesn’t go Mongo.
The arenas range from flat areas to, erm, flat areas with lots of places you can jump. There’s variety, but not all that much. Of special note is O Canada’s ice level, which completely changes the way that movement is done in the game. A lot of the other arenas, however, are pretty much unremarkable. Despite all this, the game is a whole lot of fun.
Once you figure out the controls, you can start beating up the computer A.I. with ease. This, of course, is where the multiplayer aspect comes in -- this type of game is always a lot more fun to play with a friend. And the multiplayer support is tight, clean, and very, very fun.
