Dirty Bomb

Dirty Bomb Review

By Omer Altay

Dirty Bomb is a free-to-play 3D objective-oriented shooter developed by Splash Damage and published by Nexon. Splash Damage is the same studio that developed Brink, a somewhat similar objective-based shooter. Dirty Bomb launched into open beta on June 2, 2015 and is available on Nexon's official site as well as on Valve's Steam service. Unlike traditional tactical shooters, Dirty Bomb features a class system where players can play as one of seventeen mercenaries, each of which has their own set of weapons and unique abilities. Like Team Fortress 2, the goal of each round isn't to just try and get as many kills as possible, but rather try and capture objectives.

Getting Started

Upon launching Dirty Bomb for the first time, players are thrown into the game's tutorial. The tutorial is short and informative so I recommend running through it, but you won't miss much if you skip it. One unique aspect of Dirty Bomb is that anyone can resurrect other players simply by pressing and holding the “F” key for a few seconds near them. Another unique feature is that every mercenary has their own unique set of abilities. Skyhammer, for example, can drop ammo packs for himself and his teammates and call in airstrikes. Aura, on the other-hand, is a combat medic that can use her defibrillator to resurrect teammates instantly and throw down a “Healing Station” to heal herself and allies in within its proximity. These unique mercenary abilities helps distinguish Dirty Bomb from other shooters and actually encourages teamplay, as abilities synergize well with each other and playing as a steam is essential to winning.

Jumping into a Game

Like Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dirty Bomb has both a queue system and a server browser. The game features ranked queues called “competitive matches” as well, which get unlocked upon reaching level 5. Game modes available in Dirty Bomb include Objective, Stopwatch, and Execution. Objective mode has one team racing to complete a set of objectives within a time limit (essentially the attacking team) while the other team tries to stop them (the defending team). Stopwatch is the same as objective mode, except at the end of the round the teams switch positions to see if they can beat their opponents' time. Execution mode is the traditional Counter-Strike style plant the bomb defuse the bomb game mode where teams win either by eliminating all their opponents or planting the bomb. Dirty Bomb supports up to 16 players (8vs8) in a single match.

The core gameplay in Dirty Bomb is similar to other tactical shooters. A single shot to the head is lethal and a short burst of bullets is enough to bring a player down. Where Dirty Bomb really stands apart from other shooters though is its unique emphasis on teamwork. Running in alone is never worth it as simply getting kills won't bring your team closer to victory (unless you're playing in execution mode). The goal is to take objectives and it's much easier to do that as a group. Getting killed while near allies is no big deal, as they can help you back up by holding the “F” key. Dying alone, however, means having to respawn all the way back at your respawn point, which means you'll lose a lot of time just running back to the objective. Another way to avoid wasting time is to try and stay out of combat when low on health, as players begin regenerating health while out of combat in Dirty Bomb. It doesn't hurt to ask if there's a medic nearby either, as their healing stations can heal allies quickly.

Mercenary Squads

Even though Dirty Bomb currently has seventeen playable mercenaries, players can only have 3 mercs in their squad at a time. Players can respawn as any one of these mercenaries upon death and can't change their squads until after the match ends. This system introduces another layer of strategy to an already strategic game, especially in competitive matches.

Earning Credits & Loadout Cards

Like Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, players in Dirty Bomb can earn in-game currency, called credits, by completing quests, called missions. Players can have up to 3 missions at once with missions being refilled every 3 hours. Missions vary from things like “Win 2 stopwatch mode matches” to “complete 3 matches with Fragger in your squad”. Players can also gain credits simply by playing matches. Credits can be used to unlock new mercenaries, which last forever once purchased, or to purchase equipment cases, which give players a random loadout card for one of the game's mercenaries. Loadout cards serve as Dirty Bomb's customization system. Think of loadout cards as, well, loadouts. Whichever loadout card you equip determines what weapons you have equipped as well as which augments (bonus stats) your mercenary has.

Instead of just buying or renting a new weapon like you would in games like Combat Arms, players equip loadout cards which give them access to different weapons and augments. Loadout cards vary in rarity from Lead to Cobalt (Lead, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Cobalt), with the rarer cards up to bronze having stronger attributes while Silver, Gold, and Cobalt merely enhance cosmetics. The loadout card system is novel, and it certainly beats having to “rent” weapons like in most free-to-play shooters. It does create some odd balance issues though, because Bronze loadouts are simply superior to Lead and Iron loadouts. Another issue is that since these cards are acquired randomly through equipment cases, players can't mix and match the weapons they want with the attributes they want and must use everything one card offers. Since every mercenary have their own set of cards, there's a lot of cards to collect. So save up those credits! Oddly, opening an equipment case looks almost exactly like opening a case in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with the whole “what's it gonna land on” feel.

Cash Shop

The cash shop in Dirty Bomb isn't pay-to-win at all. Instead, players can simply unlock mercenaries quicker, as every mercenary in the game can be purchased with either credits or cash. Those willing to spend money also have easy access to loadout cards, but these are all available to free-to-play who have the patience to farm credits. Cash can also be used to buy boosters which double credit gain for a set amount of time. Players can't purchase power with cash, which ensures a fair environment for everyone. The only real issue is that saving up enough credits to get every loadout card and mercenary can take a VERY long time. Even getting every Loadout card for a single mercenary may take a long time depending on your luck in opening cases.

Final Verdict – Great

Dirty Bomb is a unique FPS that emphasizes teamwork over mindless fragging and is truly a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale genre. With great visuals, fast-paced strategic gameplay, and a great cast of playable characters, Dirty Bomb is definitely worth checking out.

Dirty Bomb Screenshots

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Dirty Bomb Videos

Dirty Bomb Links

Dirty Bomb Official Site
Dirty Bomb Steam
Dirty Bomb Reddit
Evaczone (Dirty Bomb News & Community)
Dirty Bomb Gamepedia [Database / Guides]

Dirty Bomb System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
CPU: Intel Dual Core 2.33 GHz
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX or better
RAM: 3 GB
Hard Disk Space: 5GB

Recommended Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
CPU: 2 GHz Quad Core CPU
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX or better
RAM: 3 GB
Hard Disk Space: 5 GB

Dirty Bomb Music & Soundtrack

Dirty Bomb Additional Information

Developer: Splash Damage
Game Engine: Unreal

Closed Beta Date: 2014
Open Beta Date: June 2015

Shut Down: December 18, 2019

Development History / Background:

Dirty Bomb was developed by London-based game studio Splash Damage, the same studio behind Brink, a objective-based FPS game. Dirty Bomb is powered by the Unreal game engine and launched into closed beta in 2014 and released into open beta on June 2, 2015 through Valve's Steam service. The official servers were shut down on December 18, 2019 but the game files remain free to download with third party server hosting options available.