Rating: 3/10
Overview:
Released in 2009, this is an updating of the classic maze running bomb dodging gameplay that Bomberman has become known for. strap yourselves in because it's about to get explosive.
My Views
I'm not sure that this is going to be an overly long review as I don't have very much to say about the game, it feels more like a minigame rather than a full release but still holds true to the original Bomberman formula, maybe a little too much.
Gameplay
So let's get straight into it, it's still Bomberman, you are in a maze and you are trying to blow up your friends with bombs without blowing yourself up. That is what happened in the very first Bomberman in 1989 on the NES and it is exactly the same here, no difference, no campaign mode, no story no level progression, no challenges nothing to really mix it up. In fact, there is even less as in the original game there where actual enemies to try and blow up and not just your friends. The only thing that exists in this game to change it up in any way is different maps that have different environmental elements you have to avoid such as trap doors and falling objects. And that is it.
The only mode difference is local or online play, where local you can couch multiplayer up to four people or play against the computer AI and then online only allows for the same four-player maps as before. Due to these lack of modes and variety, I could see this game keeping a group of friends entertained for an hour while they are waiting to go and do something else. This would have been acceptable as a mobile game where you can connect with your friends and play on your phone, in fact, it would have been pretty good, but as a full release console game, it leaves so much more to be desired.
You can in all fairness customise the game to drop different items and go different rounds etc... but these are very average and the menus that holds this information has to much text on them that I really couldn't be bothered half the time to read it to change any of the settings. and I'm honestly not sure how much changing these settings could really mix it up.
The original 1989 Bomberman game
Everything Else
There is a small amount of character customisation option where you have to unlock most of the stuff, and no I'm not sure how you unlock anything in this game. the voices in the game are very childlike and grating after a short amount of time and the graphics are pretty awful considering this game came out in 2009, just to put that into perspective that's a whole year after fallout 3 and the same year as Batman Arkham Asylum.
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I'm not saying that there is anything fundamentally wrong with what we have been given in this game, it all works fine, but what I am saying is there is just not very much here at all, and there is defiantly nothing here that makes me want to keep playing the game for hours. in the end it is a fun little minigame that would have been great in a collection of minigames or as part of the multiplayer to a story mode Bomberman game.
My last thoughts
I know this was really short but there was really nothing to this game at all and although I only played it for half an hour I felt like I had seen everything there was to see within the game, and my rating reflects that. Overall this was just very disappointing.
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Until next time... Toby