The Unsolicited Review: Guns Of Boom

Ishan Manjrekar
Jul 23, 2017 · 7 min read

Here is the 4th post in my ‘The Unsolicited Review’ series where I review games based on them driving my 7 day engagement. Check out the previous ones here, here, and here.


Guns Of Boom [iOS, Android]

How did I find it?

A while ago, I noticed a friend playing this game on their phone and was instantly intrigued. I have noticed many games trying to get the perfect FPS for mobiles but it hasn’t been a great experience to play these on the smaller phone screens. However, this seemed something different. In addition to being a FPS which was seemingly easy to control, it was a live multiplayer. I had to give it a shot.

Day Zero (D0)

With a short tutorial which explained the movement, I was right in to the action. The best part — autofire! The first session was a breeze. Though it took a while to adjust to the movement controls, which is quite the norm if you’re trying out a game in this view, it was a smooth and rewarding experience. Any other mobile FPS games that I can think of, I remember to be dropping off just because of the overwhelming nature of the controls. It seemed quite the opposite here.

As I started getting into matches, movement was the only thing I needed to worry about, shooting is sorted on its own. Gradually I figured out the grenades, health-kits and reload mechanics. It wasn’t an overwhelming amount of stuff as all these extra mechanics were an addition to the core mechanic but they weren’t totally necessary to play the game in the first place.

Day 1 (D1)

I didn’t get to experience much of the game on the day I downloaded it so I ended up playing only a couple of games the day before. So D1 was the time when I got a chance to explore the game properly. And damn, I was hooked to this one.

Having started with a good inventory of grenades and health kits, I could easily use them and get used to them in order to understand their value. The fact that you can buy as many of these grenades and health kits but can carry only 2 grenades and 5 health kits every time you respawn is great balancer.

In a few sessions, I had a variety of guns with me that I could try out. I figured out the upgrades systems and knew what I wanted to aspire for further. There was this additional chest system which you can open up once in 6 hours.* Being the first day of play and since I was enjoying the core gameplay, it didn’t really matter that the chest was there or not. There was no feature added to control on my session length (In the form of lives, energy bar, slots that fill up, etc.) and I loved it. I could play as long as I wanted and I did exactly that.

Profile status at the end of D1. 1h 15m play time!

*The new version of the game has a revised quest and chest system with daily tasks and a way to win cosmetic items. This update came in after my 7 day review period and thus I will not have much of it mentioned as a part of my experience here.

Day 2 (D2)

Having enjoyed the previous day so much, I didn’t really require any reminder to come back to the game. I got back to the action right away.

The crates were giving me free grenades and health-kits which was really helpful. I also managed to rack up some premium currency and I actually spent it on a leg armor just to avoid getting owned so badly. I was mostly on a losing spree this day but a few wins felt really great and kept me going for that one last game feeling.

I ended the day by playing multiple sessions. The watch to earn ads are placed so strategically that I didn’t mind viewing them in order to progress through levels faster, getting a free crate, and activating new quests.

Day 3 (D3)

I wasn’t able to continue my playing spree on this day. However, I did have a single session throughout the day in which I managed playing a couple of matches. The game did its best to remind me using notifications after about 24hrs since my last session time.

Day 4, 5 (D4, D5)

Surprisingly, after the first few amazing days of play, I didn’t return to the game for 2 straight days. Though this wasn’t entirely the game’s fault. I was personally busy with other things in my daily life in these 2 days which didn’t let me make time for the game. There were a few times I did want to get back but I gave up knowing that it demands some dedicated time which I didn’t have in the day.

The game gave me a notification at the end of 24 hrs like the last time. However, there was nothing after that. Once I had ignored the crate opening notification which appears in 6 hrs and the 24 hrs reminder notification, there was nothing that tried to catch my eye to the game again for at least the next 2–3 days (Not sure if there is any notification for a 3+ day lapse).

Day 6 (D6)

3rd day since my last play session, I was back again as I was feeling left out on the action.

Returning to any competitive game after a while of inactivity has its perks. You get to win more. And that is how it turned out. I enjoyed a few sessions on this day even more as I was on a nice winning spree. This winning experience also drove me to push a bit more as I was very close to reaching Level 10.

Day 7 (D7)

I guess I have already cultivated the habit for Guns of Boom by now. I managed to make time and return to the game for more fun sessions. It has been a week in to this game now and never was there any dull moment. At least at the lower levels that I am playing in by this point, I observed a good matchmaking with none of my matches so far seeming imbalanced to complain about the pay-to-winners, which is common with many such multiplayer games.

Final thoughts

At the end of my review period and this has been the most engaged I have been with any game in recent times. The last game which drove my play time to such levels would have been Clash Royale.

There are many things that Guns Of Boom gets right in order to drive this sort of fun.

  • Simplifying the gameplay: As I had mentioned earlier, I have tried out other FPS games on mobile but this was the best experience so far. It has significantly reduced the cognitive load that these kind of games usually cause the new player. Making it very easy to pick up and play.
  • A smooth multiplayer experience: Though at times I kept getting a low network icon on my screen even though I was in a perfectly fine WiFi signal, the lag at such times was still bearable. Apart from this, the game handles the synchronous multiplayer experience very efficiently.
  • No limits play sessions: There is a general trend of games which try to limit the play sessions using the lives or crate slots mechanics, but this one stays away from making it the central system. With the update to the quest system now, it actually rewards you further for playing more games. Though there are advantages of controlling the play sessions, not forcing it here makes the game more engaging and a fluid experience while the late game aspirations of better weapons, trophies, better armor, and cosmetic upgrades give you the reason to play for a longer time.
  • Nostalgia: The 5v5 matches, recognizable weapons even with their odd names, the inspiration for the maps, all these give a great nostalgia dose to anyone who has been a Counter Strike player and hasn’t been able to keep up with the times to sit and spend hours on their computers. Guns of Boom gets you the CS experience to the smaller screen neatly.

Before ending this review, here is a match I managed to record while testing out the Google Play Games’ recording feature. Luckily enough, had an incredibly intense match with a close finish.

I am still quite addicted to Guns Of Boom and have been a regular player even after this review period.

My Rating: 5/7



Ishan Manjrekar

Written by

Game Designer. Clicks Pictures. Curious.

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