Bomberman Live: The Review

Posted by: TacoCat on: 06/28/2009 07:36 PM [ Print | 0 comment(s) ]

BOMBERMAN LIVE:XBLA

Blast Off

Finally the classic Bomberman has returned. No longer must we dust off the SNES for our explosive fix. For fans like myself this is one of the most welcome XBLA releases since Contra.

Nuclear New Modes and Items

For fans of bot domination all the modes available here are always a blast. The classic mode is the return of the straight forward frag fest we all remember. The paint mode is an interesting territory match where your goal is to use your bomb blast to color surrounding tiles. You can be knocked out of the match just like in the classic mode however, so caution is still recommended. The winner of the paint mode is last bomber standing or whoever has the most tiles of their color at the end of the time limit. The zombie paint mode is basically the same with the difference being instead of being sidelined when you get blasted , you're simply stunned for a few seconds. Every time you get stunned you also lose any tiles you already collected so “death” still carries a heavy price. Quite possibly the most entertaining new mode is the treasure island match. This is limited to a single map, where you start on the outside of a central area, with items available in the center of the stage. This mode basically turns into a race to the power-ups then utter dominance for whoever wins that race. All of these modes are much more fun online where there is always a game to be found. In addition to the new modes there are some very nice power-ups, and some not-so-nice power-downs, that make matches more challenging. The most helpful of the new items is the dangerous bomb, most effective in the 2 paint modes, which turns your bomb from a linear flame blast to a grid destroyer.

Bomb-bastic Customs

The new character customization is a very welcome addition to the bombing experience, allowing everyone to add their own style and personality to each match. Customizing your bomber starts off fairly limited until you collect the costume jewels that appear randomly on the game boards. With these new costumes at your disposal you can create pretty much anything from a bomb totin' cowboy to an asteroid blasting astronaut. Costume combinations are where the fun truly begins, a cigar smoking spartan angel is the preferred combo of this reviewer.

Bomb Scare

The online matches range from friend making greatness to quit-happy whiner rounds that can be aggravating and result in one on one games. Hopefully in a later add-on we will see the return of the tag matches, from the second SNES installment, that would often result in 2 on 1 cornering tactics. It is however nice to have the formerly only Japanese 8 player matches that bring the online play to another level.

The Verdict

Bringing into account all the new features this is a wonderful online or local play experience that can easily lead to sleep deprivation on those nights when you are lucky enough to find those elusive games where everyone is ready to go and blast each other all over the board. This is one of the few no-brainer must haves on XBLA.