Bumps
Platform: Download (Windows)
Whether they are little fur balls with eyes or animals with big heads, everybody likes things that are cute. Tell me to rescue a batch of baby bunnies from someone's sinister clutches, and I'll go through hail and high wind to make sure it gets done. Bumps, the latest physics puzzler from Utopian Games, has cute coming out of its ears. It's a charming combination of games like Eets and Loco Roco-esque Tau-ri Bedrock or Rolando.
You see, the Bumps are a peaceful race of creatures who like nothing more than to roll around, bumping into each other. But, one day, a fleet of alien space craft came and captured many of the bumps, looking them away in energy bubbles until they could figure out what to do with them next. The remaining Bumps realized that if they could find all of the keys to unlock the energy bubbles, they could set their friends free. And thus your quest is set.
Like most physics puzzlers, you don't have direct control over any of the characters on screen. You instead are allowed to place small Bumps (the number varies per level) at strategic points around the screen. Press the Start button, and let gravity, velocity, and Newton's laws take over. The goal is to collect all of the keys to free the imprisoned bumps.
It's not all happy-cute rolling around and key collecting, of course. Power-ups come along that can make the bumps grow, shrink, dash and more, adding another layer of strategy to the game. Sometimes you'll have to start a bump on its journey far away from the destination so it can grab a power-up or two to collect keys along the way.
Analysis: Fact: it's nigh impossible to resist the cute exterior presented by the Bumps. Seriously, I challenge you to look at those screenshots and not say "DAWWWWW!!!". Bubbly eyes aside, the gameplay is simple and sweet with a good mix of experimentation and strategy.
Challenge-wise, Bumps hits about the middle of the road, offering some levels that are a real puzzler, with others that you can breeze through without a second thought. Most of the difficulty comes from finding just the right places to drop your bumps so they get the job done. It's trial-and-error most of the way, which provides a great casual gaming experience.
Bumps is something a little different, which is always welcome in my book. A little bit of strategy, a little bit of experimentation, and a lot of bubbly-eyed cuteness. Bumps is a great diversion for any afternoon!
Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
Bumps is also available from Big Fish Games:
Well, it doesn't seem to like CrossOver Games very much.
The main screen refuses to center itself no matter how many times I restore the display or mess with the resolution. This is interesting since the game seems to respond to my cursor as though all the graphics were in the correct place, but they are displayed in the upper left of my screen at about half the screen size.
Trying to go from fullscreen to windowed just messes the display up completely.
Too bad. It looked entertaining.
I'm on an Intel MacBook running Mac OS 10.5.6, using COG 7.2, if anyone has any suggestions.
Im going to give this game a big thumbs down. I would not waste your money on the full version of this game. It was overly easy and i beat the demo in less that 5 minutes. Did i already say its easy? Just, don't waste your money on this game, save it for a much better game.
Did you play the full version though?
iknow: You're obviously much better than me at these games! ;-)
I didn't think it was overly easy at all. It took a little time for the difficulty to ramp up, I'll agree with that, but in later levels I thought the challenge was just right. The full version was about 3 hours of gameplay, most likely a bit more.
Great review, i can say the demo is a little easy for the 1st 10 levels (19 levels in demo) but the early levels are like tutorials designed to ease you in but the full game has 99 levels and the highest in the demo was 20 something so there is a great challenge ahead.
Darren.
Hi I was just wandering if anyone could help me with level 30. I am kinda stuck. I enjoy the game but can't get past 30. Thanks
Dear All
I am unable to clear Level 93. Will someone help me out with a hint? As I also can't find any tips, walkthrough or anything else on the internet.
Please email me hammad_ahmad_khan@yahoo.com
Thanks
Hammad Khan
Hi There!
Try to move the green bubbles at level 93. :)
Z
How do you get past level 30?!!!!
I can't get past level 30 either! Help someone!
never mind thirty wat about 19 arrrrrrrrrh
cant play right now, but im stuck on 94!!
HOW TO SOLVE LEVEL 30!!
bounce the yellow ball of the thing that moves and bounce the red and blue ones off the ground where it goes down and they will bounce back up. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME WIT 28?
I'm completely stuck on level 75! Any suggestions would be welcome!
Will there be a walkthrough sometome?
Im stuck on lvl 75 too the bumps either stick to the top webs or fall to the floor grrrrr
How to solve lvl 75 place the purple bump on the top right web on the point right side of the top and the red the web to the left on the point just down from the left.
I still cant get past level 19 any help please. Thanks
Update