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Written by Dustin Murphy
Bombshell is a game that I’d honestly not heard of until David Murphy told me something about it on the way to QuakeCon 2015, which would be the host to several large titles, but there is one that stood out among the rest in some odd and minor way: Bombshell. In development by Interceptor Entertainment, Bombshell provides a unique meld of gameplay mechanics we’ve seen with previous titles such as Too Human, Diablo 2, and a seemingly possible nod towards Bionic Commando. Something I’m pretty sure publisher 3D Realms has given a high five of approval for.
For many, you may not recognize the title as one being worked on by Rise of the Triad’s teams over at 3D Realms, which allows us to see this new action RPG title to blow away consoles and home PC’s starting later this year. Turned from bomb disposing technician to enemy killing warmachine, Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison finds herself in the middle of a intergalactic adventure as she attempts to save the President from an alien threat that seeks to cause a battle never seen before. With “Bombshell” capable of using weapons that we’ve never used before, we get to see her blast her way through a host of enemies that will later regret even getting in her way.
Entering into the world of Bombshell takes an interesting twist as aliens begin to drop from the sky, quickly adjusting to the mechanics, I found myself using the default W.A.S.D. control scheme to move while using the mouse to aim. Here I was also one to learn that left click shot while right click gave off a secondary fire. From there I fiddled with buttons such as center mouse click, which I later turned to be my grenade toss while using the rolling option to switch between weapons. Later I was able to pull up the action wheel in order to choose an ability for Bombshell to use, which I did, and watched her gloriously rush into battle and slam an enemy down that is caught in her path. What’s interesting is the fact the game doesn’t exactly what one would expect for the renowned studio who revived Rise of the Triad back in 2013 (review coming soon, but instead this game is completely different, albeit I found myself chuckling a few times in repetition through my nine playthroughs of the QuakeCon demo in ten minute sessions each even though they are technically shorter than that.
But the thing that is recognizable through the history of 3D Realms and Interceptor is the fact that the game is completely enjoyable, one that felt natural for me with mouse and keyboard, but would interestingly find itself more suitable for controller for many; something David Murphy said during his time with the title since he isn’t quite as used to mouse and keyboard control schemes. Unlike a title such as RotT, Bombshell is a game that does focus on shooting if you take out the RPG like systems where players will rise an eyebrow at the heavy metal songs playing in the background, but unlike RotT – Bombshell welcomes a character that has an interesting triple-barreled, dual-layer revolver, which is later placed in the backseat with the games machine gun that can be seen as the upcoming powerhouse within the game.
The interesting twist to the game is the fact that there is a rather interesting system for the RPG elements where players will level up weapons, skills, and even empowering overall gear in order to make Bombshell the character you don’t want to piss off, unfortunately, this one-level demo that was rather short, but enjoyable, we weren’t able to truly experience what the game is fully capable of, but instead it gave us just enough of a taste in order to want to get going with the game, and go even further with it. Disappointingly enough, I was unable to, but I can tell you it left me wanting for quite a bit more as I discussed with other friends, writers, and non-writers alike what I felt about it. In truth? I can’t wait to see this game hit a PC or console near me in the future. Til then? We can only wait and see what Interceptor and 3D Realms has up their sleeves once the game launches later this year.
About the Writer:
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.