Download Size: 100 MB
Time Played: 1 hr.
What I'd Pay: $3
Steam Price (3/24/12): $5
Bumbledore indoctrinates our youth to the joys of getting a high score by combining crisp graphics with a simple combo system that rewards you to annihilate as many bugs with as few spells as possible. It's devious, and while it isn't my cup of tea, I must tip my hat to them for providing a gateway drug into other score games like Ikaruga.
In Bumbledore, you play the apprentice of a bee wizard tasked with protecting the hive from an army of insects. What provoked this weird plot and horribly punny name? I suspect it went something like this:
"Alright, we want to make a kid-friendly wizards game where you get a high score through precise spell placement. But what will we use for a theme?"
"You know, J.K. Rowling said Dumbledore is old English for 'bumblebee'."
"Hmmm..."
Not that it really matters. After a quick opening cutscene (that the great Bumbledore doesn't even appear in), it's just you & 96 levels of puzzle fights. The apprentice stands on the left side of the screen while the bugs invade from the right in set patterns. For each level, you have up to 3 different spells to cast on them, each with different effects: fireballs explode on impact, lightning jumps from enemy to enemy in a chain, ice spikes and meteors go right through enemies, and grass blades freeze enemies in their tracks, positioning them for a large combo. You cast these spells by clicking on either the sky, the ground, or the wand and dragging the mouse in the direction you want the spell to fire. It's pretty intuitive, but it's obviously made for a touchpad. It doesn't help that it uses the default white mouse cursor, which gets easily lost amidst the large colorful graphics.
Combos are the name of the game here. The point value of each successive enemy killed by a single spell is multiplied; the 1st wasp killed grants 100 points, while the 5th wasp killed grants 500 points and so forth. In addition, you gain 500 points for every spell you have left once you've killed all the bugs. The higher your score, the more honeycombs you get for the level. If you earn enough honeycombs, you unlock extra levels. It's simple, it's elegant, it's a devious way to entice youngsters into stretching for that high score.
Finishing the game itself isn't that hard (I completed it in an hour), but unlocking all the extra levels (or just perfecting your high scores) will take much longer. Personally, I'm not interested enough in the game to put that much time & effort into mastering each 15-second level. However, it reminds me a lot of the previously-mentioned Ikaruga and other shooters which emphasize shooting enemies in specific sequences to maximize your score. I have to wonder: if I was 7 years old again, would this be my Ikaruga?
In short: if you want to give a good score game to a young kid (or just like score-based puzzlers in general), buy this game. Else I'd give it a pass.