0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - BoomBots

        

BoomBots is an action fighting shooter game with the game focussed around arena combat, The game was developed by South Peak Interactive and The Neverhood, the game was published by DreamWorks Interactive exclusively for the Playstation. 

The game released exclusively in North America, on the 31^st of October 1999. While I have found a couple of mentions of a PAL release of the game, I have however been unable to find this version, the only trace I have found is a cover image that did not look genuine.

Notable people who worked on this game, Douglas TenNapel who worked as an Animator on the game, the characters in the game are also based on designs created by him. TenNapel is also responsible for the creation of Earthworm Jim alongside David Perry and Shiny Entertainment.

Eric Ciccone who worked as an animator on BoomBots, a role he would also fill for the 2000 release 007 The World is Not Enough and Spy Hunter 2 in 2003. He was the Lead Animator for 2008’s SpongeBob SquarePants Featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom and 2010’s Megamind Ultimate Showdown and 2013’s Defiance, the video game tie in to the TV series. His most recent credit was for the 2015 released Armikrog, with Ciccone working on Additional Animation for the game.

Brian Belfield who worked as a Programmer on BoomBots, prior to this he worked as a Programmer on the 1993 released Jurassic Park and 1994’s Shadowrun. In the late 2000s Belfield worked on the EverQuest series, specifically EverQuest II and the various expansion with Belfield worked as a Programmer on them. More recently in 2016 Belfield provided Additional Engineering for Landmark and MMORPG with construction elements.

Ernie Sheesley has had a long career in the video game industry dating back to 1996 and his work on Neverhood and Lighthouse The Dark Being. Following his work on BoomBots in 1999 he went on to work on Star Trek Klingon Acadamy working as a Voice Over Engineer.

Sheesley worked as a Recording Engineer on the 2001 released Star Wars Starfighter, the same year he held the same role on Final Fantasy X. In the proceeding years Sheesley worked on several Star Wars and Final Fantasy titles working on the Audio side of the industry. Most recently he worked on the Dialogue Recordings for Tales From The Borderlands, he worked as a Dialogue Editor for Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric.

BoomBots is a 3D fighting game unlike the majority that were on the market at the time, like other fighting games BoomBots was fought in an arena, unlike most fighting games of the time that see fighters moving left to right across the arena BoomBots allowed the player to traverse the entire arena, in this arena action fighter.

The main part of the game is the New Game mode, this mode is the Arcade mode of other fighting game. this mode has the player choosing one of the ten available from the start BoomBots. The player then proceeds to fight ten BoomBots that are re-coloured skins of the roster of available fighters.

As the Story mode progresses and the player remains undefeated they will also be able to face off against secret BoomBots along with their one specific stages, once these secret BoomBots have been defeated the character along with their stage will be unlocked for use. In total the game features 10 BoomBots and stages to begin with. An addition 5 BoomBots and stages can be unlocked by completing the New Game mode.

The game also features a VS Mode, this mode work similar to the Single Player mode with the exception that the player is now facing off against another human player rather than a computer controlled opponent. This mode in addition allows the player to choose which stage they wish to fight on.

When fighting in BoomBots the entire arena is accessible to the player or players. Movement is controlled with either the D-Pad or left analogue stick, arenas also offer verticality when it comes to combat with arenas having platformers that the players can jump up to, players can jump using the X button, this button also works as your BoomBots booster.

Melee combat plays a role in the game, in addition to the projectiles you can launch at your opponent. Melee combat is done with the R2 shoulder button, this button will have your character grab your opponent and begin pummelling away at them.

Projectile weapons are however the main staple of the game, with the characters gun being fired using the Square button. BoomBots also have access to rockets and missiles, first up the rockets with the Circle button used to fire a Homing Rocket at your opponent. Guided Missiles can also be fired by using the Triangle button. Players are not defenceless against these airborne threats, with players able to kick away missiles by using the R1 or L1 shoulder buttons.

During the course of combat the player will be able to pick up energy balls that appear as glowing yellow pick ups around the arena. These picks are stored in a yellow bar beneath the players health bar, once filled the player will enter Mongo Mode, this mode causes your BoomBot to grow in size and strength, with the ability to fire super homing missiles.

In the year 15 million, a spaceship interrupts picnickers in an American park., the ship belongs to a cat like alien race known as the Feline Alien Research Troop otherwise known as FART and led by alien cat Mandu. The FART begin abducting Earth’s common household cat using robots known as Boombots and in the process almost destroy the Earth.

To stop the Earth from being destroyed completely, scientist Dr Doe, Dr Pick and Dr Newton come up with the idea of just sending the cats to the Aliens in a giant rocket. What the scientist don’t know is the cats have been protecting humanity from another race, the United Rat Infestation Nation.

To bring the house cats back and stop the rats from taking over the Earth, the humans team up with feline alien double agent Paul to create the BoomBots Underground Technology Team, a team of fifteen Boombots each with distinct abilities and personalities to help save the Earth.

while the game did receive a couple of good review scores as well as a few decent ones. It was largely the game was not well received by the majority of critics that reviewed the game, with the game hitting a low of just 19 from one critic.

As usual we will start with the best of them which comes from GameGenie who rated the game at a good 80. the reviewer saying if you are tired of fighting games and want to be renewed then get his game, the reviewer called it a fun and quick to pick up game,.

The reviewer continued by praising the games graphics calling them wonderful, while the reviewer did admit the game is lacking in features, but the reviewer still found the game to be worth the money. With the reviewer concluding by saying. You don't have to cram as much stuff into a game as you can fit on a few CD's to make a great game. SouthPeak and DreamWorks proved that with BoomBots.

GamePro (US) are next up with another 80 rated review, the reviewer finding the game maybe ideal for those looking for a fun game to play over a weekend, with its humour and fun design it will keep you happy for a little while. Concluding the reviewer found the games lack of variety will limit the games shelf life.

Gamezilla are next with their 74 rated review, the reviewer finding the game a good by any day, as long as it is from the bargain bin. With the reviewer finding that they could only recommend a day one purchase is for fans of the original Neverhood.

The reviewer found the game to be a wonderful concept, but falls short in many categories necessary to make it a truly good fighting game, occasional graphical issues, a poor control setup and a laughable difficulty all conspire to make this game less than it could have been.

Da Gameboyz are up next with their 70 rated review, the reviewer found Boombots to be an enjoyable title, but the reviewer also found the easy gameplay on offer will likely turn some players off. But as a light hearted diversion this game is perfect and well suited by the PlayStation environment.

Game Industry News are next up with another 70 rated review, the reviewer saying, if you are looking for a good challenge, a good laugh, good claymation and cool close up throw scenes, pick this game up and have a good time. The reviewer continued by saying However, if you just want a mindless blow-them-up-and-beat-the-game-in-a-half-hour title, this wouldn t be the game for you.

We take a significant drop in review score for the next review which comes from Official US Playstation Magazine, who rated the game at an average as you can get 50. With the reviewer finding the action just gets repetitive and boring way too soon, even with the option to play against another human being an option, this does not save it though.

Game Revolution are next up with another 50 rated review. The reviewer finding the game to be just another arena fighting game that won’t advance the genre at all. The reviewer did recommend a rental as the fighting mechanics in the game isn’t that bad and is worth checking out just for the movies. Concluding however they said. But for god’s sake don’t buy it.

Adrenaline vault are next up with a 40 rated review. With the reviewer saying. If I were to come out and say that Boombots was a good title, I would be doing all of you a disservice. There is no doubt that this is a bad game. They continued by comparing it to film levels of badness, with the reviewer finding the game to be better than the likes of Godzilla and Batman Forever and more like Plan 9 From Outer Space or Death Race 2000 kind of bad. By that I mean it’s a classic in its own right and worth playing just for the humour.

IGN were next up with a poor 35 rated review, with the reviewer commenting that they can’t come down hard enough on BoomBots, with the reviewer finding the game does not aspire to much more than being a funny game. And while it is mildly amusing, the game is a lacklustre fighter that won’t hold your imagination for long once you have played through it.

PSX Extreme are the penultimate review and again we find a 35 rated review. The review finding the game feels like an old Super Nintendo game, the graphics are stale and the gameplay is shallow. They continued by saying, please stay away from this game if you know what is good for you.

The final review for the game comes from GameSpot who awarded BoomBots a dismal 19 rating for their review of the game. With the reviewer finding Boombots to be in the running for the worst game of the year. With the reviewer finding the fighting to be ill-conceived every step of the way, and the presentation doesn’t bring anything to the table either. Concluding the review said, stay as far away from this game as you possibly can.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, where if you are looking to trade in your copy of the game at Gamedude you will be looking at just $1 for your copy of the game. If on the other hand you are in the market for a copy of BoomBots from Gamedude, you will be looking at an outlay of $5.

Retrogames.co.uk are next up, sadly this game is not available or even listed on the site. So we will quickly move on to eStarland but sadly the game is not listed here, so we head over to Amazon.com in the hopes of finding some copies of the game.

 

Amazon.com sadly don’t stock or even list this game either, the same goes for the co.uk version of the site as well. so as a last hope we head to Ebay.com where we do find the game listed, with the cheapest copy on offer being a disc only copy for $7.99.

The second copy on offer is a case and manual only copy, if you are looking to complete your copy with a case and manual in excellent condition then it will set you back $8.84. Another disc only copy is one the market for $9.95 with another disc only copy available for $12.79.

The first complete copy of the game we find is priced up at $13.95 and comes with free shipping in the United States, this copy is in good overall condition. A second complete copy of the game is also available for $14.99 along with four more complete copies of the game one priced at $19.95, one priced at $19.98 and the other two priced at $19.99. A couple more copies are priced beyond this point, with the game currently having a used price high of $39.74.

Written by

P J Gibbon