Bomberman’s been around for
a very long time now.  He debuted in the 80’s, with simplistic yet addictive
gameplay and cute graphics that didn’t exactly push systems like the NES, but
were more than bearable.  Over time, Bomberman’s received many minor gameplay
additions, but the core gameplay has always been the same while the graphics and
sound kept on advancing.  I admit that I haven’t been following the little guy
lately; I haven’t played a Bomberman game since the enjoyable (but far from
perfect) Bomberman 64.  I didn’t have any idea that there was an entire anime
based around the series, and I certainly didn’t expect this game to be largely
based around it.

Thankfully, it’s – for the
most part – a good thing.  The developers have employed a cel-shaded look that
is more than fitting, and the gameplay has been appropriately adapted to fit the
nature of the cartoon (or at least as far as I can tell, having never seen it).
Multiplayer is once again largely unchanged, but that’s a good thing (more on
that in just a moment).  The single player mode is quite a bit different,
however.

There are a number of levels
which you progress through in a linear order.  There’s the obligatory water and
fire worlds, accompanied by the interesting Green (vegetation-rich) and
Underground worlds.  Each world consists of five or six levels, with a mini-boss
in the middle and a real boss at the end of each.  The game is not particularly
difficult; often, the only damage I received was from my own careless bombing.
I was able to breeze through the first world in it’s entirety in less than two
hours.

Basically, the single-player
levels consist of finding your way to the exit or defeating a certain enemy (or
sometimes both).  For the most part, you have to solve simplistic puzzles and
figure out how to travel over the terrain.  Bomberman never could jump – and
still can’t – which makes traversing some areas considerably more challenging.
You have to use switches, elevators, bridges, cannons, and more to get around;
none of which are terribly hard to use, but sometimes are combined in ways that
really make you thinking about how to continue.  The first level actually took
me upwards of a half-hour because I was overlooking some obvious things that I
should have triggered.

Okay, so the single-player
game doesn’t sound all that exciting, right?  What helps are the RPG-esque
elements that are littered about.  Aside from Bomberman gaining temporary
upgrades like the ones that increase his speed, the power of his bombs, and the
number he can lay at once, he can gain different types of bombs.  There are
Hurricane Bombs, Aqua Bombs, Ice Bombs, and Thunder Bombs.  You acquire the
different types throughout the course of the game, and each one has unique,
helpful abilities: the Aqua Bomb bursts into several water balls that chase
enemies, and the Ice Bomb creates a tall mass of ice that takes out flying
enemies, for starters.

There’s one more little
layer embedded in the game that adds some depth: the Charaboms.  These are
little guys that act sort of like Pokemon, helping you out with their abilities
and leveling up constantly.  You can only have one Charabom active at any time,
and any fruit you find will give it some experience – so you need to strategize
in order to balance out your little guys.  For the most part, they help you
reach previously inaccessible places; one Charabom lets you cross water; another
jumps over high walls or ditches; yet another will let you glide through the air
for a short time.  As they level up, they gain more abilities, like speed
increases or the power to climb up waterfalls to find hidden areas.

So, while the single-player
mode may seem a bit shallow at first, it actually has some depth to it.  Sure,
it’s not magnificent – the camera is frustrating, the puzzles lack variety, and
the challenge usually only lies in not blowing yourself up.  It is a worthy
companion to the real blast you can have while playing Bomberman Jetters though
– and that’s with the multiplayer mode.

It’s not perfect, either.
There are a sorry number of stages accompanying each different mode – in fact,
the only real mode which has eight or so different levels is the standard “deathmatch.”
It’s not such a big deal, though, because the other modes are really inventive
and fun.  There’s “Battle One-Two”, where players uncover switches and have to
hit them (1-9) in the correct order without getting hit.  There’s a mode
reminiscent of Super Smash Bros., where bomb blasts knock players into the air,
and the goal is to blow the other guys out of the arena.  And finally there’s
“Battle for Balloms,” my personal new favorite, where each player tries to
collect a bunch of cute floaty guys and jump into one of the four holes that
opens and closes in the stage.  The challenge is in the Balloms themselves – as
you collect more, you grow increasingly slow; to make matters even more
interesting, they simply follow you, single-file, like they’re in a parade – and
a well-placed bomb from another player can blow them all away before you hop
into one of the randomly-opening holes.

There are a number of
options to mix things up even more.  You can turn on “Killer Shot” in some
modes, where a meter will fill up as you drop more bombs – when it’s full, you
can release a devastating attack.  Each characters attack is different, as
well.  There’s also “Revenge,” which lets those players that kill themselves
before the end of the match ride around in little cars on the edge of the stage,
tossing bombs into the arena.  You even have the ability to make Revenge more
exciting by having those players still active that get bonked on the head from a
Revenge player’s bomb switch places with him or her.  Aside from these clever
options, you can split into teams, create handicaps, toggle mini-games on and
off, and so forth.

The production values in the
game aren’t stunning, but they work just fine.  As mentioned earlier, the game
has a cel-shaded look which works perfectly fine, especially considering the
game’s anime ties.  The animation is mostly good; I would have appreciated some
smoothing out of the jerkiness that appears while abruptly changing directions,
however.  Overall, the graphics are fine.  The sound feels every “Bomberman-ish”
as well, with cheery tunes that get in your head whether you like them or not.
My only real complaint is that some – or I should say most – of the voice acting
is ridiculously bad.  Bomberman sounds like a ten year old girl for some reason,
and many of the voice actors read their lines with hardly any emotion.  Perhaps
this can be blamed on the game trying to imitate an English dub that is probably
already bad; having not seen the show I’m not one to say whether or not the
voices are faithful to the series – I do know that they annoyed me.

Once you put all the
ingredients in a Shake-N’-Bake bag and give them a good rustling around,
however, the game’s flaws really aren’t all that important.  One never expects a
stunning single-player mode in a Bomberman game, but this one actually manages
to be decent and isn’t just filler junk.  The multiplayer mode is still the
heart of the game, and is easy for anyone to jump into while still giving the
fans a lot to like.  To top it all off, the anime visuals are pretty cool
(although the voices aren’t so hot) and help give the game a unique touch.  It
doesn’t exactly revolutionize the Bomberman series, but it is a solid entry and
is definitely worth picking up if you’re in need of a fun party game.

Gameplay: 8.0

It’s by no means stunning,
but the little touches like different bomb types and Charaboms make the
single-player mode more interesting.  There are plenty of fun ways to play the
multiplayer game, too, so it doesn’t disappoint.

Graphics: 7.5

Animation is mostly good, but iffy in spots.  Everything
else isn’t really beautiful either, but the cel-shaded visuals work very well
and the character and world designs are pretty darned neat to boot.

Sound: 6.5

The music is still catchy and annoying, which is both
good and bad.  The only really bad part about what’s blasting through your
speakers are the ludicrous character voices that I absolutely couldn’t stand.

Concept: 7.0

The multiplayer mode is
similar to past Bomberman titles, but has enough new modes and twists to warrant
a purchase; the single-player mode feels somewhat generic but has a number of
little additions that keep it interesting and different from other games out
there.

Multiplayer: 9.5

In a word, it’s swimmingly excellent.  Okay, two words.

Overall: 8.0

The game, quite simply, is
fun.  The single player mode isn’t terrible, and the multiplayer mode is quite a
lot of fun.  There’s more than enough compelling features on this one disc to
warrant a purchase, especially if you’re the kind of person who puts those extra
few controllers to use as often as possible.