Bombuzal

A really difficult puzzler, especially in the 3D view. In 2D its a game that requires a fair bit of puzzling which is hampered by a really harsh timer. Turn the timer off and this is a rather relaxing work out for the little grey cells.

Love this game but hate the timer. Surprised this is Crowther's highest rated game on Lemon64. How many really play this game in isometric mode?

I absolutely loved this game on its release. Sure the time limit could get a bit obtrusively tight but the amount of grey matter it takes to beat this is considerable.
An unusually well presented puzzle game with wonderful and challenging gameplay.
An absolute C64 classic game in my book and one of the very best in the puzzle genre.

One of the best Puzzlers ever. But the name is BOMBUZAL, not "Bomb Uzal"!

Having reviewed the evidence this game is called Bomb Uzal. A hyphen would have removed the confusion.
Bombuzal sounds better though.

I've already mentioned the time limit but argh it really spoils this game. I changed my vote from 8 to 6 because of it.

@Monk! WOW!

Isn't it "Bombuzal" not Bomb Uzal?

Maybe the C64s best puzzle game? Absolutely addictive.

The time limit lets it down a little? I don't understand why puzzle games need a time limit. The joy is in figuring it out in your own time.

@janzl. Monk has a habit of long crazy rambling comments and personal attacks. He is bizarre.

Love this game, great playability and great graphics.
And Mr Monk, for someone who has "Love, Peace, Spirit" as interests in his profile, you make damn nasty comments.

A nice, little puzzle game. Like all puzzle games, it will start to get tedious and boring after the novelty has worn off, and after you have solved a fair number of puzzles. But that can't be helped, it's the nature of the genre.

It's true that the C64-version is better than the Super Famicom-version, or the Super Nintendo-version, which has the typical 'stupified for Americans'-name change into "Kablooey" (instead of at least 'Kablooie', like we learned from C&H). Americans must be the stupidest people in the world, if a name like THAT sells better than its original, perfectly good name.

The Super Famicom/SNes-version suffers from overstuffing, underpolishing, and losing the core gameplay. It is more sluggish to play, the main character is suddenly BLUE instead of green (the japanese can easily confuse those two colors for cultural reasons), and sports a really goofy, typical and unnecessary 'weird teeth'-look that was not originally there. The main character was a bit odd, but cute. SNes/SF-version made it into a redneck auto mechanic!

The character is overly-animated in the SNes-version, which slows things down. The graphics are not very clear, they are stuffed full of unnecessary crap, without improving the overall quality and look of the graphics at all. The colors are not used very well (though this was the early days, the artists could still have done a lot better), either. It's like they took the clear and distinct, sharp-looking C64 graphics and tried to make it look as much of an unclear mess as they possibly could.

Then there is the added 'I have nothing to say'-elevator music that only gets on the nerves, along with the extremely LETHARGIC "player one, get ready", pronounced lazily with a typical japanese phonetic limitations, combined with a huge amount of delay (echo) added. That has got to be the most depressing "get ready" speeches I have ever heard! The C64's speech sounds like "Kennedy", but at least it's cheerful and energetic.

The explosion sounds on the SNes also suck - they do not sound MASSIVE, or even explosive, like in the C64 version. The bomb sizes have also been messed up - the smallest bomb is almost the same size as the middle size bomb - if you only see the smallest bomb, you can never be sure, whether it is the smallest or the middle-size, except after a lot of practice and getting used to the exact graphics. The C64 version has proper size distinctions - small bombs look really tiny, like they are supposed to.

The opening title music is melancholic and repetitive in the C64-version - I used to get a bit depressed by this game back in the '80s whenever I heard it, so I didn't play this game as much as I could have. It also never changes the same exact 4-chord pattern - only the 'melody' changes slightly.

All in all, a polished, very well made, quirky, neat, good-looking little puzzle game with great playability and clear graphics- but in the end, very forgettable, and not one of the great classics. It'd be easy to make a C64 game collection, and omit this game altogether, and not miss it one bit.

It's more like an expendable snack than irreplaceable classic.

But I must take exception to what Gurt said about "spot effects" (you mean SOUND effects? I hate these movie/opera/stage terms applied to games, when perfectly good terminology exists within the technological usage). These are the most explosive bomb effects I have ever heard in a computer or video game!

Also, I want to point out that Gurt is contradicting himself; first he says that the "spot effects" are BAD, and then proceeds to say that it's '.. Just extremely hard to fault this game'. It can't be too hard, since you just DID it! Don't first do something and then explain how doing that very thing would be extremely hard, if you want to seem like you know what you are talking about!

Best puzzler ever for c64, top 10 in the genre considering all gaming platforms! Commodore version is best among other conversions.

Bombuzal.

Bomb Uzal?

Can't better this as the best C64 puzzle game ever. I still haven't completed it LOL

Really cool game. I did not liked it because I was too young to understand it. I don't remember if it was some years ago I tried it again or if it was just before I got my A500. Anyway I loved the game, but at the later levels it got kinda sick. So strange enemies and stuff.

I loved loved loved this game. Spent many hours with, until I finished it. One of the best puzzle games ever.

Agreed... Nice game and better than other conversions

Excellent game. It's also the best version. Better than Amiga, better than PC, better than the SNES game, even. It just runs smoother and the 8-bit look really suits it because it looks much more polished, and the palette swaps actually seem to make it more interesting. Excellent title music, bad spot FX, excellent options including switching between 2D and 3D and a password system, very VERY well presented... It's just extremely hard to fault this game. Zzap! Were spot-on. Definitely one of the best C64 puzzlers! 10/10!

Moley> Apparently Jeff Minter's level blows up into the shape of a llama taking a dump, or something.

Nice game, better than the Amiga version.

I seem to remember there were a number of levels in this game created by big industry "celeb" names - although I'm not sure if they are credited.

Had fun one saturday morning with this but couldn't complete it. This is what puzzle games should be like.

Back in the days when digitized sound could make or break a game.

Wot a puzzler! Bombuzal is so addictive, I cant get no sleep. Sharp graphics and cool speech. 10/10

One of the few puzzle games I actually enjoyed (along with Pipemania and Zenji), this is great fun for a while. Eventually I got bored, but it's well worth a little of your gamesplaying time. Cute graphics, a host of different features, some quite rough speech, findieshly designed levels, a much needed password system, two different views... Good stuff.

Useless fact, the C64 version actually ran faster than the Amiga version. ZZap 64 did a speed test on them both.
scarily addictive.

Great game which I lost to my thieving little cousin. Used to play this a lot as I loved the puzzle aspect to it.

Pretty cool game with nice graphics and sound. It also has sampled speech. Well game-play overall and keeps ya' busy for a long while !!! (but the LIGHT crack was LAAAAAAAAAME!!!)

Cool game to play on the Amiga, sloppy conversion to the C64

I spent one long, warm summer inside playing this. Ultimately I DID get bored, though...

Utterly fantastic, brilliant brilliant, brilliant, or as a TV chef might say "delicious" etc.

I totally agree with posts here. I great puzzle game. I have fond memories playing this. This game is guilty for wasting my school summer holidays in fact !

My first C64 game!! Oh how I love this game... You are really have to use your brain on it... A great game!
Gotta try it! =)

A suprisingly clever puzzle game that will make you think. A nice change of pace if you like puzzle games but you're sick of a million variations of Tetris.

Very classy puzzle game with great graphics and the choice of two views. 9/10

I'm surprised this has such a low rating, but I'm well into puzzle games and have always loved this one. Drove my grandmother insane while playing it one holiday because the synth speech used to freak her out! Still a classy headscratcher.