I remember my friend telling me
about this game called Bomberman many years ago, and how much fun it was to
play. I never got my first true taste of Bomberman till the Bomberman 64 was
released for the Nintendo 64. While many people dislike this game, I was
instantly and hopelessly addicted to its simple nature yet the depth that it
provided me, as well as the multiplayer matches very late in the night with my
friends. This was one of the staple multiplayer games for my friends and myself
so many years ago. Since that time I have seen many other games released under
the Bomberman name, including the very poor Bomberman Zero that was recently
released. I was overjoyed to hear that the “classic” Bomberman was going to get
a release on Xbox Live, and I couldn’t wait to try it. Was it worth the wait?
The basic premise of this game is
simple: use your bombs to find hidden upgrades in crates and then try to blast
your friends and be the last man standing. The controls for this game are really
easy. First of all, you can move your characters around with either the d-pad or
the left thumb stick. To place or throw a bomb all you need to do is press the A
button. The X button allows you to line up bombs or punch. B button detonates
remote bombs. LB shows the HUB. The RB shows the gamertags of all of the
characters. Finally the right trigger kicks a bomb. Getting familiar with these
buttons is a must if you want to survive online. Luckily the control scheme is
very easy to get adjusted and you will be playing like a professional in no
time.
There are two different modes you
can play in: local play or Xbox Live. Both local play and Xbox Live allows you
to play with eight different people. In local play it can be four humans and
four CPUs, and Xbox Live it can be eight different human players. Then you can
choose from eight different arenas to play in that have their own traps and
themes, then choose which game mode you want to play in. Each arena has several
different modes to partake in which helps give you more options and give greater
replay value to Bomberman Live. One of my favorite modes to play is the Paint
Bomb mode, because in this mode the object is not to take everyone out, instead
you must try to paint as many of the tiles on the board as fast as possible. If
you get hit by a bomb you will then go into the “revenge cart” riding around the
perimeter throwing bombs on the map, trying to take someone out so you can get
back on the game board.
All the powerups in the center, who will
get there first?
There are two different matches to
play on Xbox Live: player match or ranked match. Player match allows you to jump
right in to Xbox Live and play against fellow gamers. Tournament allows you to
compete with everyone around the world, but collecting points. It is the
ultimate brag right to check out the leader boards and see your position on
there in comparison to your friends. Once you choose which mode you then can
choose to play a battle (which is a series of matches in a single area) or a
tournament (which is a series of matches in different arena). What is nice is
that any mode that you can play locally, you will be able to play on Live, but
expect it to be better since you will be playing with all live people instead of
the CPUs.
Once you have figured out which mode
you want to play in you then have a couple of options. First is a quick match,
which will just load you in the first game it can find. Next up is custom match
where you can define the type of game that you wish to partake in. If you can’t
find anything to your liking you can then host your own game by choosing create
match. Sometimes this is the best way to go since you can tweak the rules to
your own liking.
If you like to customize the
appearance of your characters in video games, then you will love this game.
Bomberman Live offers you the ability to customize three different parts of your
character: headwear, face, and body. There are many different parts for you to
mix and match. It is really funny to go onto Xbox Live to just check out some of
the zany combinations of that player have chosen to represent themselves. You
can choose from many different themes that include cowboy, clowns, gladiator,
pirate, ballerina, and much more. The only way to get these costume pieces is to
unlock them during the game’ it will take a while to gather all the parts but
once you do it will be worth it to see what you can come up with.
That will hurt
There are two reasons why people
love this game and first off is its simplistic nature. Someone who has never
played any of the Bomberman games can pick up the controller and start playing
in a matter of seconds. Next up is the more you play it you recognize how
strategic this game can be. This ranges from deciding which power-ups to use,
finding ways to trap your enemies, and how to use the level that you are on to
your advantage. The more you play it the better you become, the more strategies
you come up with to where you find yourself completely and hopelessly addicted
to it.
Bomberman Live is rated for
everyone, and it contains comic mischief and tobacco references.
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Gameplay: 9.1
Even though this is a very simple game to learn and play you will be amazed
at how fun it is. There are numerous things that you can do to improve the
quality of your matches, such as various power-ups, different “costumes” to
customize your own character, and many other things that will keep you addicted
to this game for hours on end.
Graphics: 7.3
The graphics for this game are really simple and their main job is to make
sure that you know where you are and what you can blow up.
Sound: 6.9
The sound for this game isn’t really one of the focal points for this game.
There are simple explosions and a light soundtrack, that neither adds nor takes
away anything from it.
Difficulty: Easy
This game is obviously made for the younger generation of gamers as it takes
no time to breeze through this entire game.
Concept: 7.2
While there are myriads of Bomberman games and sequels out there, this one
brings back the fondest memories of this franchise. The gameplay is simple and
the execution of it is strategic; it is fun for all ages.
Multiplayer: 8.6
This game is made for multiplayer and with up to eight people in one match
the game will get frantic and you will love every moment of it.
Overall: 8.5
Playing Bomberman Live has brought back many good memories of playing this
game so long ago with my friends. With all of the various game modes available
it is well worth the 800 Microsoft Points ($10 USD) to buy it. See you online!
