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BOMBERMAN WORLD
Copyright © 1998 Hudson Soft
Platform, 1-5 of Players
Available Now
¥5,800
—by Charles McCarter
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Bomberman makes his debut on the PlayStation! After two games
on the Sega Saturn and one on the Nintendo 64,
BOMBERMAN has finally made it to the
PlayStation in a game that will most likely please
those who enjoyed previous BOMBERMAN
incarnations.
Unlike SATURN BOMBERMAN
FIGHT, this game is in "2 1/2D," which means
that it's got elements of 3D but still plays mostly
like the old 2D versions of BOMBERMAN. Many players will find this
to be comforting and much less disorienting than a
fully 3D environment.
There are several modes in this game: Story
Mode, Challenge Mode, and Battle Mode. Story Mode
pits White Bomberman against some evil Bombers who
have been released by an unknown force and have taken
over planets in a local solar system. These bosses
are based on wood, fire, air, and water. Basically,
the story mode is what one has come to expect from
BOMBERMAN—entertaining, parts
of it frustrating, but altogether fun.
But again, it's in the Battle Mode where the
true reason for BOMBERMAN's
popularity lies. This time, Hudson has shied away
from using other Hudson characters, such as Honey-chan
and Bonk, which appeared in some of the other BOMBERMAN
games. This time, however, the cast of characters is
all Bombermen, including BomberWitch, BomberMonk,
BomberFairy, BomberNinja, and BomberBaby, as well as
White Bomberman and a couple of others.
Power-ups are similar to those in the past,
including extra bombs, extra blast range, extra speed,
and the power glove. Of course, the poison and
geta are still there as well. There is also a
sub-mode of Battle Mode called Maniac Mode; in Maniac
Mode, the players select the number and types of
power-ups available on the playing field. As a
result, certain power-ups can be made very common,
rare, or altogether absent.
Another noted feature continues here—the
varied and creative battlefields. Several of these
worlds contain a smaller "floating" level that hovers
above the main playing field and sways back and forth
across the screen. While this is a new idea, it can
also be very annoying, as it's hard to see where you
are when you're under it and it is very easy to
accidentally die.
One small disappointment perhaps is that
there are no animals to ride on during this game.
However, after defeating the boss of each level for
the first time, you get the mecha that they had. But
this is only fleeting, and once it is gone it's gone
and it usually is reduced to rubble when the player
has to fight the boss a second time to truly defeat
him and clear the level.
Other than that, there really isn't much
difference here from previous BOMBERMAN games.
Perhaps that's because in their hurry to crank out so
many titles on different platforms, the game
developers are stuck in a bit of a rut. But for the
moment, the games they are producing are still a lot
of fun.
Like its predecessors, the Battle Mode is
sure to be the most enthralling aspect of this game,
and PlayStation owners should be glad to have a
BOMBERMAN title among the other
excellent titles in the PlayStation library. Some
things are universal, and given the popularity of
Bomberman in his many forms, it appears that blowing
people up is one of those things.
Rating: *** out of 4 |
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