With a name like Bomb Jack, a video gamer may be expecting some sort of platform game similar to Bomberman or Super Bomberman. In fact, Bomb Jack is more like a cross between a puzzle game and a platform game. It was created by Tehkan Limited (which users may recognize from their modern name, Tecmo) for single player play, but two players can play if they take alternating turns. It was converted from coin operated arcades and hit the markets for home entertainment in the late eighties.
It was converted to multiple formats, including the ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Atari, Game Boy and Commodore 64.
The premise of Bomb Jack is exceedingly simple in theory. The bombs that Jack has are not grand offensive weapons, but instead are only items to be collected to advance to the next level. The story line states that some evil terrorist has planted these bombs at famous tourist sites in an effort to cause trouble. (The Sphinx, Acropolis, Great Pyramids, Hollywood, and Miami Beach are among the targets). Once Bomb Jack has a set number of the bombs on a level in his possession (defused), a bonus coin will appear. Once collected, this serves as a score multiplier. Other coins will appear, seemingly at
random, as well. An “E” coin will give the player an additional life, but it will appear very rarely. A more popular coin is the power ball, which allows you to defeat the enemies and more easily collect the bombs.
And yes! There are enemies. Many of them. This is the reason that Bomb Jack is only simplistic in theory. It sounds easy to run around and pick up bombs, but Bomb Jack will have to work his way through some really weird baddies. Birds and turtles seem normal, but there will also be things like undead mummies and bizarre, animated glowing orbs. Bomb Jack features looping play instead of an unlimited number of levels, so the player can expect to see the same types of enemies repeatedly, however, they do get noticeably more difficult with each loop.
Bomb Jack is a pretty challenging game for a standard jump and run platform game. There are some puzzle solving elements to it, as the user tries to figure out how to collect all of the bombs, but the puzzling portion is pretty basic. The graphics are dated but good enough for the day. Bomb Jack is an entertaining distraction that is suitable for gamers of all ages.
