Bumbledore

Developer:  Nimbly Games
Released:  Mar 2012
Usual Price:  £3.99
Hours Played:  2
Controller Compatible:  No
Rating:  N/A



GAMEPLAY
Levels in Bumbledore consists of one screen and begins with your avatar, a cartoon-like anthropomorphic bee, standing on the far left outside his tower. To his right there is an assortment of bugs which appear in formations of about 1 to 5 large units. Your job is to prevent these critters arriving at your tower. To begin, you drag a line from your hero's staff towards the bugs then release it and watch as a fireball emanates from your staff zapping and destroying them. Later, a variety of god-like weapons are added to your arsenal such as fireballs from the clouds or ninja-like blades that slice up from the ground.




The idea is to destroy the bugs using as few moves as possible to get the best score or three hexagons. Unfortunately, gameplay is about as dull as dishwater with little to motivate you to actually get the full three hexagons let alone one or two. Bugs die in satisfying and interesting ways for sure but clearing the area and then automatically moving onto the next one is mind-numbingly pedestrian. I suppose you could work out how to kill bugs with fewer shots and get better at the game but there's no encouragement to do this. 

DESIGN & PROGRESS

Menus are distinctly app-like but intuitive and easy to navigate. In line with the bee theme, information is presented hexagonally and divided into three themed worlds with 32 levels in each. These are divided into two pages of 16 each but you need to acquire a certain amount of golden hexagons to unlock the last 3 levels on each page. You get awarded 1 to 3 golden hexagons depending on efficiency. There is also a high-score for hardcore players who wish to go back to improve their score.  

CONCLUSION

The game combines tower defense and shoot 'em up elements but with so many cracking tower defense games and a huge choice of satisfying shooters out there, I can't fathom why anyone would want to bumble through Bumbledore. It may keep a child quiet for the odd half hour but not a game you'll want to invest much time into, especially on the PC.