Guns of Boom review
:: OFF THE MARKPrice: Free
Version: 2.0.1
App Reviewed on: iPad Air 2
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Guns of Boom is the one of the latest attempts to bring quality, multiplayer shooting to mobile. While a lot of titles that have come before it have been chasing games like Call of Duty in their design, Guns of Boom's approach is a lot more relaxed and streamlined. As a result, it feels a little more at home on mobile, even if it still has some issues.
Keep it simple, shooter
In Guns of Boom, two teams of up to four players face off in a team deathmatch. There's no other game modes, there's no side objectives, and no custom character classes or anything like that. Similarly, the controls take care of shooting for you, so all you have to do is concentrate on aiming, moving, healing, and tossing a grenade every once in awhile.
This is a super simplified approach that mostly works because Guns of Boom has a solid set of maps in it. There are military facilities, farms, streets, and all sorts of other levels that are cleverly designed to allow for interesting dynamics to develop throughout a match, even if the core shooting is super straightforward.
Upgrade your arsenal
In every match, the only goal is to rack up a higher score than your opponent. The points that players can earn don't come exclusively from killing an opponent, but rather from contributing to the team in its effort to kill the other team. This means you can earn points for things like assists as well as impressive feats like double kills.
At the end of a match, you earn cash which you can then use to get new guns or upgrade the ones you already have. These guns come in five main categories, all of which you can carry with you and switch between in every game you play. With the huge number of weapons you can buy and missions that constantly give you something to work toward, the progression structure of Guns of Boom feels quite compelling.
Invest in your health
The only real thing that bogs Guns of Boom down is how it deals with healing and grenades. Med packs and grenades can be brought into every match, but they are a disposable resource, meaning you can conceivably run out of them if you use them too often while playing.
This sets up a situation where you don't want to use them very often, but you don't always feel like you have this luxury. If you're playing against enemies that use them liberally (whether because they are paying players or simply non-hoarders), that can tip the scales of fights in favor of whoever is fine with expending their resources to survive more. In a game that feels otherwise balanced, this feature just knocks everything out of whack.
The bottom line
Guns of Boom is some solid, streamlined shooting that feels better than quite a few other mobile shooters. That said, it has a free-to-play economy that can directly influence the outcome of matches. This isn't something that's noticeable in every match, but whenever you do notice it, it's frustrating.