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Bomberman Review
Written by Robert Falcon on Monday, October 2, 2006
Superb mutliplayer, with only one copy of the game needed.
Single player is still kinda tedious; item management can get bothersome.
"You dropped a bomb on me, baby! You dropped a bomb on me!" Needless to say, this old 70's disco song probably won't come into play during a session of Bomberman, but it seems kind of fitting considering the nature of the game. Your job is to simply drop bombs in a strategic manner, not only obliterating mindless AI drones but also the competition. This series has thrived on multiplayer competition for years on a number of consoles, and now the PSP is getting a dose of its own with bombing madness. Fortunately, the game doesn't suffer the same fate as the downright awful Bomberman Act Zero for the Xbox 360, released earlier in the year.
The game succeeds by following the same basic pattern that the older games were known for. As long as it's something done right, there's no problem with that. The graphics remain just as cartoonish as past editions of Bomberman, complete with cute little animations, big bosses, and lots of not-so-menacing enemies roaming around, just waiting to get a bomb dropped on them. The graphic layout of each stage is simple, with tons of blocks to blow up and items to find, but it works for the PSP format. The sound is equally impressive, with a cute little soundtrack and fun explosion noises. Nothing major, mind you, but it's still suitable for the Bomberman creed.
The Bomberman gameplay is mostly the same, with you dropping bombs and then moving along to eliminate enemies before time runs out. The single-player game is enjoyable, but gets a little tedious over time, since the enemies aren't really that challenging to beat over the game's 100+ stages in Story Mode. There's also some awkwardness with the item management at times. Instead of an item taking effect right away upon pick-up, you have to activate it in a sub-menu, and sometimes it can be a real pain in the keester having to roll along and activate it in a hurry. It's a decent-working system, but more quickness would've been nice.
Although the single player game won't have any long-term fans, the multiplayer absolutely should. That's because Bomberman does the right thing in allowing four players to have a huge ad-hoc versus battle with just one copy of the game necessary. Utilizing the Game Sharing feature, this makes for an absolute good time with your friends as you drop bombs and pick up necessary items to win the fight. It's a shame that you can't take the game online via infrastructure and challenge the world, but sometimes you just have to take your victories where you can find them, you know?
Bomberman for the PSP is a nice bounce-back for the brand and a return to simpler, more fun times. It's a great game with multiplayer, and the single player mode can be entertaining if you don't mind the lack of true competition. The graphics and music are about what you'd expect, and most of the gameplay holds up well. So get this game already- it's quite simply da bomb. (Mind the pun.)
posted October 3, 2006