"Any long time gamer, has to get a bit
warm-n-tingly when you see games of old make their way onto new systems.
Bomberman has come a long way, but at what price?"
Intro
A long, long time ago; there was a boy-child who played countless hours of Dig
Dug, Joust and eventually Bomberman. As consoles came and went, dear Bomberman
would consistently hang around. Even with the Sega Dreamcast, fans of yesteryear
where treated with Bomberman Online. Just waiting to see where our
bobble-headed hero would land; I was excited to see the next installment.
Developed by Hudson, they've always been the true "alternative"
to video games. Every game is witty, challenging and light-hearted. This fits
well into the constructs of the GameCube. If you haven't played any Bomberman
games; it's really quite cut and dry. The premise behind the ongoing series is a
simple puzzle based game with action/adventure roots. The game is a sort of
hybrid puzzle game, where you learn new moves throughout the game, but the
majority of the time is figuring out puzzles by blowing things up.
Old school meets the new school
Long time fans will rejoice in the familiar gameplay for little has changed.
Even though the game is set in mostly 3D, 2D fans will cheer from the classic
controls. The controls for Bomberman Generation are sickening easy. Your
analog controller moves the quirky spaceman, and "big green" lays
bombs. Since the game is in 3D, you will have to get used to using the
trigger buttons to control the camera angle. While I though this would be a
pain, I'm actually glad they made this manual; instead of trying to manipulate
an automatic camera.
The game is also broken down into a handful of starting points, and it's very
intuitive because you have the choice of where to begin. The four main levels
are broken down into four sub-levels (a la Mario Bros.). Each level also
contains a neat-o end boss, which is also typical of the Bomberman's from the
90's. Since the game centers around bombs, you will find a ton of groovy
power-ups that affect your bombs. Bombs not only do damage to enemies, it is
also your primary means of locomotion. Everything from a "bomb jump"
to blasting a tree down to create a bridge; can all be done with the use of
bombs. Early levels really let the user get the hang of the controls and later
will eventually test even the stingiest of gamer.
The biggest addition to Bomberman Generation from others is the use of
the Nintendo-esque "Charabomb". These mini-creatures are like
virtual pets that can be used to trigger bombs at certain times, or even
mobilize bombs for you to hard to reach areas. At first I thought the concept
too gimmicky, but actually the concept was surprisingly fun. I was shocked to
see that Hudson didn't implement the GameBoy Advanced; similar to how the
Dreamcast transported creatures from Sonic Adventures to the VMU.
Most Bomberman-fans love the single player action and adventure; but what really
gets their fingers moving is the awesome multiplayer. If you look at Bomberman
Online, you can see how addictive the multiplayer action can be. Hooking up
three other friends and choosing battle can really be an awesome party
relief. The multiplayer is set up in three different categories, and the replay
value is endless. There are literally hundreds of levels to tackle and
the more players you have the more fun the game becomes. Simple games like this
(and even Tetris) seem to cause even hard nosed gamers to chuckle and
mumble a curse or two to their neighbor. Multiplayer will be a party favorite,
and the whimsical aspects should appease parents as well.
Jet Set Radio it's not...
It seems as every developer is jumping on the cel-shade graphic train. As much
as I can appreciate it, many will find the cartoon aspects too "warm and
fuzzy". I found the graphics to be crisp and colorful and the performance
never comes into play. Visually, the game is standard fare and don't utilize
half of what the GameCube can pump out.
This isn't a bad thing, however, and the blending of classic 2D with some clean
3D cel-shading does produce some attractive eye candy. Backgrounds are a
bit limited, and are fairly lifeless. The backgrounds try to be as colorful and
"tasty" as possible, but most of the flavor is lost in the foreground.
Some of the effects were thrown in there, just to show off little techniques of
the Cube (shadows and lighting).
Probably the most disappointing aspect of the game is the horrible audio. The
soundtrack tries to be witty and fresh; but ends up more like yesterday’s
meatloaf. The dismal audio was not only repetitive, but also uninspiring. Sound
effects were crystal clean, but seemed a bit to short for me. The blips and
bleeps weren't very creative, yet I suppose they did the job ok.
66 Says:
Bomberman is one of those games in which you either love it or hate it. I've
never found anyone who says "It's ok...". Personally, I love
the series and the latest installment is worthy of a purchase. While I prefer
the Dreamcast version a tad more, I was happy to see that the GameCube was the only
console to snag this version.
Even if you haven't played the series for a while, this would make for an ideal
rental. A great party game, will keep the gamers going for hours. I also like
the "kid-friendly" attitude of the game, and should make picky parents
happy with the light-hearted atmosphere. Overall, the game gets thumbs up from
'ole sixey and you should at least give it a good rental.
7.9
