Developed by the solo developer PigeonDev (the same developer responsible for Awesome Pea , game reviewed by my good mate Alexis back in 2019) and published by Sometimes You, in Explosive Jake you play as Jake, a tiny skeleton with a dire need to blow things up with his bombs and, with these explosions, find his way out of a dungeon!
At first sight, you may think Explosive Jake is just another Bomberman-like game and well… you aren’t all that wrong in that assumption. In this simple arcade game, you will guide our little friend through 40 levels full of boxes ready to be detonated. Avoid traps and enemies until you find the door and key that will allow you to blast your way to the next level!
Inside those boxes, you will also find some powerups like extra bombs, health, speed and explosion-reach upgrades. You lose the upgrades at the end of the level or if you die in the process, but the extra-bombs will be with you until the end of your adventure.
With very (very, very) simple visuals that remind games from the 8bit era, and a cute soundtrack, it would be an enjoyable experience if not by the unresponsive control: Placing bombs on the floor by pressing the A button, its only mechanic, simply didn’t work at most of the times I wanted to place a bomb while running. So try to remember it and stop running before placing a bomb to get your enemies out off guard.
Score: 55%
I had so much trouble with its core – and only – mechanic that what would be a relaxing game became somehow frustrating and annoying. Nevertheless, still a good call if you are a fan o Bomberman-like games or want a boost in your gamerscore.
With a history of gaming that goes from his old man’s Atari 2600 to his Xbox One, Rafael or RAF687, our Brazilian editor, has a love for games as old as he can remember. He has already spent countless hours in many consoles (Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PS1, PS2 and Xbox 360) and is always ready for more (as long as his wife is asleep). Raf has been writing for LifeisXbox since 2017, with a passion for games of almost all genres – though we know he has a special place in his heart for RPGs, racing games and anything that includes pixel art. Writing about games has always been a childhood dream to Raf, dream that he has fulfilled reviewing games for you here. You can drop him a message at Twitter, Facebook or Xbox Live at any time.