There are times when a game takes inspiration from another title, and there are other times when it’s just a blatant rip off.  This is one of those times.  Best way to describe Kaboomania is that it’s basically Bomberman.  Sure you play as a guy instead of a robot and lay dynamite instead of bombs, but it’s the same game.  Kaboomania is available on some current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

Your character runs around a single screen and can lay dynamite.  It’ll explode after a couple of seconds in a four-way pattern.  You can destroy blocks and enemies this way, but don’t get caught in the blast yourself or you’ll lose a life.  You can pick up more power-ups that let you lay more explosives or make the blast bigger, among other things.  When all the enemies are defeated, find the exit and move to the next stage.  There is a single player mode and a battle mode, which is good since Bomberman is best known for its multiplayer.

This might’ve been a fairly decent clone of Bomberman but the controls feel a little loose and I swear sometimes the dynamite would go off before it was supposed to.  And when you lose all your lives and select ‘continue,’ you have to put in a password and I have no idea where to find out where that is.  Honestly there’s no reason why this game needs passcodes.  Really I’d rather just play that recently released Bomberman collection instead.  Man I wish I could’ve reviewed that one!

Kid Factor:

Kaboomania is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  Characters caught in the explosions just dissolve and say ‘uh oh’ and that’s it.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, but not necessary just to play.  Younger gamers may find it a little difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews