Final Boom!HD Is Not For The Faint Of Heart
Final Boom!HD ($0.99) by dreamingupmonsters is a defense game where you get to drive a tank and fail miserably at trying to protect a quiet town from being destroyed by enemies. Don’t worry. You will probably die before the enemy destroys the entire town.
This is another time when a game is so hard that it is practically not worth playing. The odds are stacked so high against you that your imminent demise will leave you feeling so frustrated that you won’t even want to keep playing.
First of all, it's nearly impossible to figure out how to maneuver the tank. I get that the developers were trying to give you realistic movement, but it is just awkward and confusing. In the meantime, enemy tanks are destroying your town and blowing you to bits.
Next, the tank you drive is slower and weaker than the enemy’s so you have little chance to survive. The only way to shoot an enemy tank without getting hit yourself is to hide behind one of the houses you are trying to protect while the other tank is off screen and you can’t even see it. You just have to aim in the direction of enemy fire. The enemies attack in twos and threes, so even if you do manage to destroy one tank, another one is on the other side of the town.
There is no pause button, so you are out of luck if the phone rings while you are in the middle of the game. There are no bonuses or ways to regain health. It is just a survival game where it is impossible to survive.
Even though it is really hard to play, the game does get easier as you get more familiar with the controls. I went from destroying one tank in less than a minute before being killed, to taking down six enemies in three minutes before losing my life.
There are three different tanks that can be unlocked by earning stars. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to earn more than one star, which means you have to play the same frustrating game 25 times before you can unlock a stronger tank.
If the developers were trying to make a game that was hard to play, they succeeded. It is so hard that it is practically unplayable. It is unfortunate because the graphics are good and the game style is potentially entertaining. The developers need to dumb it down a little so it is actually fun to play.
