There are three Bomberman games on the iPhone that are reminiscent of the originals and capture the simple game play really well.  Once again blowing things up is the overall objective.  However, a story has been added, putting Bomberman in an Indiana Jones style role and the options of what path you want to take.  The paths really aren’t all that important though because you have to go through all of them to get to the last boss.

The different routes have subtle graphical differences, but really being a bunch of walls to blow up the subtle changes can be easily overlooked.  Even so the story with the nostalgic gameplay is great.  On top of the nostalgic value, other aspects were added such as extra weapons.  The bombs that you get to detonate, yourself for example, are very useful.  The special weapons you get later are kind of hit or miss and by the time you are ready for the boss fight they become kind of useless.  I believe these games, or at least similar Bomberman adventures, are offered on the home consoles.

The home consoles are probably a better place for these games, in all reality.  The game itself is not an issue, but instead the controls.  I have played other games on the iPhone that have you using an on screen directional pad and, like this one; I have yet to find one that does it well.  I think the real problem is that there is nothing tactile to keep your finger from sliding the wrong way.  So if you are playing for any amount of time there is a good chance that your character is going to end up veering up rather than left, just as an example.  Most of the time in this game that won’t make or break you, but other times you might end up wedged between a wall and a bomb, which isn’t ideal.

If you want a Bomberman game on your phone this is a lot of fun and I am not trying to knock it.  But if you have a directional pad in your iPhone game you might want to just get a different game.  And in case anyone is wondering, trying to play it on the iPad doesn’t help in fact maybe even a bit harder with all the additional space.

Zombie Farm
Obviously based on Farmville, Zombie Farm adds zombies to the mix of what you can grow. The reason for the zombies is that they live on your farm. Some help by fertilizing plants, which then sell for more. However, the real key to having the zombies is that you can then attack “neighboring farms”. These “farms” actually have just one farm, then pirates, ninjas, robots, aliens and lawyers. Now beyond that there aren’t a lot of differences. As the neighbors get harder you need to mutate the zombies. These mutations are based on plants you plant around them and give them specific attribute boosts. Beyond the battles the game plays like Farmville, you can send daily gifts to your Game Center friends buy upgrades to the farm and just about anything else.

Zombie Café
This one is based on Café World which I am not as familiar with on Facebook. You get to run a café that serves very bizarre, clearly zombie inspired, foods. On top of this you can convert customers into zombies that serve as your staff. Now the key here is that while your avatar does not tire, the zombie staff does. This becomes a problem if you are striving for a five star café because if they get too tired they will try to recoup their energy by eating your living customers. You get around this by letting them rest instead. Now if this was it, there probably wouldn’t be much different. Good news is they took the Zombie Farm approach and add the ability to attack neighboring eateries. This is easier depending on the zombies you have as they each seem to have different attributes. Downside to this is that it is difficult to figure out what those attributes might be. Other than that this one seems to be the most hands on and possibly the most addictive and the only one that has an iPad version.

Zombie Isle
Based on Treasure Isle, this one pretty much bores me. Treasure Isle also bored me as the main draw seems to be digging up squares then waiting for your energy to recoup hours later. The battles in this one are unintuitive and seem pretty unnecessary. Guiding the boat around between islands also seems clunky and awkward, which seems to be made worse by the ad that is taking up a quarter of the screen. The ad, as a matter of fact, actually seems to stick out in my mind more than the game itself, which I’m pretty sure is a bad sign.

Each game has its fan base I’m sure and then they all share the zombie fans. Be aware that, while the game is free, there are premium currencies in each game that you can pay for but isn’t necessary because you can occasionally earn it in game and overall only gets you certain things that aren’t absolutely essential. The free price makes it worth it to at least try each one.