Bomberman Touch 2: Volcano Party

If Bomberman was to find himself trapped in the real world he'd be seen not so much a hero and more of an arsonist, a pyromaniac, and quite possibly a terrorist.

Running about and chucking bombs is certain to have you scared to leave your house, but with a game as poorly designed as Bomberman Touch 2 you're just as likely to be terrified of pulling your iPhone from your pocket.

As the pyrotechnic name implies, the game has you running around in a maze dropping bombs to defeat explosive-obsessed enemies in two modes. Battle mode keeps things simple, having you square off in classic form with a few power-ups that boost your speed, amplify the power of your bombs, and increase the maximum number of bombs you can carry.

Challenge mode is the game’s meatier half, with added action levels to vary play. Before each head-to-head bomb run, you're prompted to zip through a scrolling stage first.

Although not the kind of closed-off maze used in the Battle mode, this scrolling preamble - which leads up to a boss fight - is still a maze of sorts. You have to avoid enemies and blast away any walls in your way before the molten tide catches you up. You can’t just take your time because a lava flow presses from the left, waiting to unleash a bit of pyrotechnic payback on your posterior aspect.

As intriguing an idea as this seems, it's blown to pieces by terrible controls. Controlling Bomberman is incredible tricky due to a poor virtual control scheme that has you struggling to use an on-screen D-pad. Frustratingly, the D-pad has issues with responsiveness, moving too much in any direction under the slightest of input. Even worse, you find your guy moving in a direction contrary to what you intended.

Sure, you can make your gestures in a slower and more mannered way and be more accurate, but you’ll either be engulfed by lava or blown sky high by another bomb-toting character before you even lay your first stick of dynamite. A good deal of the fun is in trying to wriggle your way out of a scrape just before the bomb goes off, but with the current control method these are the very moments most likely to be ruined by the controls.

Without the ability to control Bomberman in a quickfire, responsive manner, the game bombs. The concept of flitting about scrolling stages with the mounting pressure of lava floes nipping at your heels is compelling, but only to the point when the controls limit your ability to actually tackle the challenges put forth.

There’s not even any compelling structure to keep you playing through the trudge of struggling with Bomberman Touch 2’s controls as the Challenge and Battle maps are unlocked from the start. The game’s one saving grace is Bluetooth multiplayer, but it’s just too little, too late.

When a game is this frustrating to control it doesn't just blow up, it flat out bombs. Whatever cool ideas Bomberman Touch 2 attempts with multiplayer and Challenge mode fizzle out due to inexcusable control problems.