oombots, set in the year 15,000,000, does not take itself very seriously at all. Technically a 3-D fighting/action game, Boombots is as much a Claymation festival and comedy troupe showcase as it is a video game. Robot combatants such as Boomer, Chickie Boom and Hara Hara Bugbot are dullards and
nincompoops all as they play out a paper-thin "save the cats of the world from the United Rat Infestation Nation" (yes, that's URIN) plot. Innumerable skits and cut scenes demonstrate the superb animation skills and crass sense of humor of the
developers at the Neverhood studio (the team also responsible for Skullmonkeys), but the essence of the game suffers from much less attentiveness.
Gamers choose any one of 15 robotic warriors and play through a sequence of fights that will eventually complete the caricature story. Alternatively, the game can be played as a straightforward one-on-one fighter in both single and
two-player mode. Regardless, each 'bot is a distinctive character who deals with the tasks at hand--not to mention the innate fart and butt jokes--in their own unique way.
The meager gameplay involves these goofy robots stomping around various arenas replete with interactive objects, impediments, pick-ups and power-ups, alternately clanking and clanging away in hand-to-hand combat or
launching a barrage of various character-specific projectiles at their opponents.
Playful doesn't mean playable
Both the gameplay and in-game graphics are notably sub-standard in Boombots. The game is aimless, sparse, simple and not at all intuitive or
immersive. The characters are clunky, spastic and presented in a low-grade, low-resolution format. However, suffering through the flaws does allow players access to more characters and, better yet, more animated cut scenes, which are not, as mentioned, the typical computer-generated movies commonly found in video games. Rather, the segues are well-crafted Claymation sequences with enough goofy plot development and personality to fill a small animation film festival. The sense of humor shows shades of Matt Groening's Futurama or the cheeky absurdity of Sony Interactive Studios' Blasto!, which came complete with non-stop quips and quotables from the late, great Phil Hartman.
Yet while Boombots is indeed chock-full of clever one-liners and sassy spanking fatalities, it is tolerable only for a while. Then it just becomes more and more painful, with groaner humor and repetitive slapstick. Essentially the game involves foolish
mashing and banging on the controls with random, whirly-twitch effects (sometimes comical, sometimes unintentionally bizarre) and then a droll cut scene Claymating itself and keeping the gamer vaguely interested.
All in all, endurable for perhaps a half hour, perhaps more if the player is also a big fan of Claymation and/or crafty and crass absurdity and hilarity.
