Them Bombs is definitely a simple game. The main idea is basic enough: the player has a bomb and tries to defuse it, while someone else uses the manual to give instructions on what they should and shouldn’t do. They can’t see the bomb, and you can’t see the manual. The game concept is a lot like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, so if you’ve played that, you should understand how this game works.

Gameplay

Most Nindies have you using Joycons or the Pro Controller. In Them Bombs, you use your phone or another device that can download the manual. The manual is a 27-page PDF file with instructions on what to do in every situation within the game. The player(s) with the manual must communicate with the person defusing the bomb so it doesn’t explode. If the bomb does explode, it’ll end up killing civilians, in the game of course!

An example of this is one of the modules, which had wires. The player diffusing the bomb had to tell the player(s) with the manual the color, number, and location of said wires. Then, the player(s) with the manual had to tell the bomb diffuser what wires to press + and – on and which ones to cut. But don’t take too long, as the bomb has a timer on it. When it reaches 0:00, the bomb explodes and everyone dies. As you can see, this is a game that can get quite stressful!

I really enjoyed the added levels of stress, but I could see how this could get quite frustrating to some. The game becomes a lot easier with multiple people looking at the manual as certain people can look at certain parts of the manual and work together to reach the end goal.

One feature I really didn’t care about was the stress and flashlight features. You see after so long your stress level gets really high and you have to hold a button on the screen down for a few seconds before you can continue. The same idea goes with the flashlight except the entire screen goes black and you have to button mash/ tap like crazy on the flashlight button. This felt unnecessary and annoying.

Graphics & Controls

Them Bombs graphically is super simplistic, but also adds realism. The main game can be summed up in a screenshot, graphics and all. It’s very much so a 2D kind of game. The controls, in my opinion, are best using the switch’s touchscreen capabilities, as you can navigate the different modules quicker. But using a controller also works just fine. Finally, the music is nearly nonexistent. There is a low pitched beat that loops every so often. But this game doesn’t really need any sort of music to convey the realism of defusing a bomb.

Two down, one to go!

Them Bombs is definitely something different to review. It isn’t like a normal game where we would look at things like the story, graphics, music, etc. This game is more about the experience you have with the people you play with. If you play the game with boring people, the experience will definitely be boring. On the other hand, if you play with people who are very intrigued by the game, you’ll have a lot of fun playing. The game has many different ways of being played. You can have people in a room and take turns defusing the bomb. Or, you can do it my preferred way, which is getting in a call with friends and defusing it that way. It makes the experience feel more authentic. It makes you feel like you’re actually defusing a bomb with people on the other side of a call.

Man, doesn’t even give me full credit for saving 270 people’s lives.

Conclusion

To conclude, Them Bombs is 100% worth your time and money. I personally am going to be playing this game at parties, family gatherings, and more when I can. This game is honestly fantastic and is super simple to play. This game is so much fun and I can’t recommend it enough. If you buy this, you won’t be disappointed in the slightest.

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