Explosive Jake review for PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One, Switch

Platform: PS Vita
Also on: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Publisher: Sometimes You
Developer: PigeonDev
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E10+

There?s one specific scenario where it might be worth your while to check out Explosive Jake: if you?ve never played Bomberman or any of its clones before. Mind you, Bomberman and many of those clones are undoubtedly better than Explosive Jake, so I should probably amend that to say that you?d only really want to check it out if this were a world where none of those other games existed.

Of course, the problem with that hypothetical will be obvious to anyone who spends even a few minutes of playing Explosive Jake: there?s no way this game would exist if Bomberman didn?t. Apart from a few cosmetic changes, it?s basically an exact clone, and there?s no reason to believe there?s enough originality at work here to believe this game could?ve come up with the concept on their own.

I hate to be insulting like that, but there?s really no other way to describe this game as anything other than a middling Bomberman clone. There?s no story. The hero is a skeleton who has to escape a series of dungeons for…reasons. The graphics are vaguely retro, with no distinguishing features. The controls are as standard as they come, with the only thing that really stands out being the fact it?s awkward to move the eponymous hero around, which means that you?re going to needlessly die quite a few times.

That said, you only die if you play, and there?s really no reason why you need to play Explosive Jake in the first place. As Bomberman clones go, it?s certainly one of them, and you?re better off just seeking out the original instead.

Sometimes You provided us with an Explosive Jake PS Vita code for review purposes.

Grade: D+