Kombo’s Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don’t waste your time. This is why we’ve split our reviews into four sections: What the Game’s About, What’s Hot, What’s Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game’s About
Bomberman Land is a new spin on an old stand-by. You play as the famous arson only this time there is a special tournament in Bomberman Land. The winner will go against the cocky and arrogant “Champion” and become the new champion if you can make rank and progress through a bunch of zones.
What’s Hot
Yes, it is another mini-game collection on the Wii. However, some of the games are very enjoyable and will keep the spirit of competition alive in a setting with you and your friends. Not only do you get Bomberman in a collection of mini-games but included with Bomberman Land is the classic Bomberman game everyone has come to love. There isn’t much else to say that this is a very key inclusion to the game when you start to brood over how bad the story is and you want to jump into some gameplay you can bank on.
To add spice to what would normally be a bland game with cookie cutter characters, you can customize your character. There is everything from frog suits, bee suits and suits of armor, you can even give your Bomber some smart-looking glasses. It helps give the game its light-hearted personality.
What’s Not
To unlock the mini-games for casual play when your friends come over, you first have to slog through the story mode. While the mini-games themselves aren’t that bad, the reason for competing in them is. Not only is it trite, it forces you to sit and read each line of text. You can adjust the text speed but you will still be reading more than playing.
Progression in the game is punishing. If you fail to make the top 10 in a zone after four rounds, you are either held or washed back to the previous zone. So you need to train relentlessly to prevent being at least held back. If you don’t get “A” ranks in many of the games, expect your progress to stagnate. Some of the games are so difficult to obtain ranks on, you might want to throw the controller into the TV.
Final Word
Bomberman Land does a good job at compiling a fairly good collection of mini-games but the bad story mode overshadows it. The saving grace is that the classic Bomberman game is included in the package and with that, offers more than just a run-of-the-mill mini-game Wii title.
