Smart Bomb is more than just one puzzle game - it's a combination of puzzle games lumped together under a somewhat shaky storyline. The story is that you work for a bomb disposal unit who use virtual reality technology to defuse bombs.
In other words, lots of puzzles leading up to a final bomb detonation puzzle.
The variation of puzzles presented is wide and challenging. There's the laser mirror where you have to switch mirrors around to guide a laser beam from one side of the play area to another. There's the gears game where you have to position a series of gears to connect a handle to a fan. There's a game which is very reminiscent of Marble Madness where you tilt the playing area to move steel balls around to solve the puzzle. And there's plenty of other variation.
The game works surprisingly well on the small PSP screen and is very addictive. The environments are all 3D and can be zoomed and spun around to offer a better view of the puzzle being worked on. You can use either the directional buttons on the PSP or the analog control pad.
A couple of things I didn't like -
First of all the on-screen instructions. When you first encounter a new puzzle type, the game shows you what you need to do to complete it. The problem is that it shows you in double-quick time and unless you're at the very high end of being able to read quickly, you'll miss the instructions and be left floundering around wondering what to do.
Secondly, the overall storyline of the game is totally unnecessary, as are the cut scenes which serve only to interrupt gameplay.
Because of the nature of the game, you'll see the same puzzles come up time and time again, only more and more difficult the further you get into the game. This repetition is OK because the difficulty is ramping up, but if you're expecting an infinite number of unique puzzles, you could be disappointed with the repetition. Overall I think there are 11 or 12 unique puzzle styles.
Smart Bomb is pretty graphically and processor intensive. Using the built-in speakers and the screen on full brightness, Smart Bomb will drain the PSP in about 3 hours and 30 minutes. Lower the screen brightness and use headphone and I could see adding another 15 minutes to that. Plug it into an external battery pack and you'll see the tired side of 11 hours of gameplay.
Face a world of deadly puzzle challenges as you race to diffuse bombs by finding their central detonators Deactivate each bomb in Story, Arcade, and C...More at Amazon
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Face a world of deadly puzzle challenges as you race to diffuse bombs by finding their central detonators Deactivate each bomb in Story, Arcade, and C...More at Amazon Marketplace
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