Single Player

Bomberman Generation is a hunt for the six bomb elements that were scattered after Mujoe and the Hige Hige Bandits attacked a space freighter. With the help of Professor Ein, Bomberman Max, and a host of Charaboms, Bomberman searches the planet Tentacalls to find the bomb elements.

If there’s anything that will hinder this game, it’s the presentation. The story above is delivered by a dry “voice actor” who just reads the lines at the same slow pace that the words appear on-screen. The character voices are just as cheesey and terrible with the high pitched voices Bomberman is known for. The only reason I mention this is that one of my roommates won’t even play the game because it’s so cute that it makes him sick. True, any gamer should be able to look past this, but in Generation, it’s not an easy thing to do.

The game plays from an overhead perspective and has a high emphasis on puzzle solving. Unlike early Bomberman games, the stages aren’t set up on a grid system, and bombs explode in a circular pattern rather than the traditional plus-shape. This changes a lot of the strategy, but bombs are still the key to everything.

The first three worlds feature four adventure stages and two boss battles. Later worlds have fewer stages, but they’re significantly longer. The stages have you blowing away obstacles and throwing switches until you find the exit. There are a lot of secret areas tucked away as well. Most of the enemies are pretty tame. You’ll probably blow yourself up more often than you’ll get hit.

Bosses on the other hand, can be really tough. I couldn’t stand the fact that I kept getting killed by the Beauty Bomber of all things. You have to find the right time to attack each boss, and you also need to use your Big Bombs to do any damage. Most bosses go through at least one transformation, and have a wide range of attacks.

Hudson seems to have found almost endless uses for bombs. You attack enemies, kick them down holes, blow out obstacles, use them as shields, toss them onto switches, use them as bridges, and even jump off of them. If you pick up a bomb and hold it, you’ll even create a Big Bomb that has a much more powerful blast and a broader attack range.

There are also attribute bombs that you create along the way. Each of the attribute bombs has a special power - Water, Ice, Wind, and Light. Water bombs put out fires. Ice bombs freeze fountains. Wind bombs make leaves float, and light bombs reveal hidden objects. These bombs can all be created once you find the right item to merge the bomb with and the hidden area where you can merge bombs.

Each of the merge items are gained through mini-games. Unfortunately, the mini-games are easily the worst part about Bomberman Generation. All of them are frustrating because they require precise timing and it isn’t easy to judge when you should hit the button. They didn’t seem very fun to me, and the only reason I kept trying to complete them was because I needed the merge item to continue on with the game.

Another odd and fairly unwelcome addition to Bomberman Generation is the Charabom system. Now this may have been in other recent games, but it’s my first experience with the critters. Charaboms are basically animals that you capture that enhance your abilities. It’s a blatant rip-off from Pokemon. When you find a new Charabom, you select another charabom from your party, choose your moves, and let them battle it out. If you win, you’ll capture the new Charabom.

The abilities you get are all really cool. Some boost defense. Others let you jump off bombs, and there are some that allow you to detonate bombs at will by remote. These are all great abilities, but to me, it would have made more sense to find gadgets than use cuddly animals.

Altogether, the single-player experience is decent, but in itself wouldn’t warrant much more than a rent.

Multiplayer

Bomberman multiplayer is completely different and hearkens back to the classic games. Familiar grid based levels are present with full four-player support. Really, Bomberman multiplayer is the best thing to have if you want to get non-gamers initiated. It’s simple enough for anyone to pick up, and I’ve personally had some fun parties with people that almost never play video games.

In most modes, there are a ton of power-ups. Fire Up and Bomb Up are staples that increase your range and the number of bombs you can set at a time. You can Punch or kick bombs toward your enemies. You can lay hidden land mines, lines of bombs, or Power Bombs that have maximum firepower, or you can pick up a number of other power-ups with various effects.

Also, in several of the modes, you can continue playing as a Revenge Bomber after you lose a match. You’ll be able to run around the sidelines and toss in one bomb at a time to pick off your least favorite rivals.

There are five modes of play, each with their own sets of customizable rules. Below are descriptions of each mode.

Standard Battle

This is classic Bomberman through and through. There is a set amount of time on the clock to collect power ups, clear blocks, and take out your enemies. The last one standing wins, but there are eight stages to choose from that all have their own quirks and challenges. Turn & Bang allows you to kick bombs around corners with the help of special arrows. Greenfield hides your bombs in the ever-growing grass, and Dunkbang lets you toss your bombs into basketball hoops which will transport them to different spots across the field.

Standard Battle is always fun. There’s a lot of variety with the different stages, and it’s a good warm-up to get people used to how Bomberman works.

Reversi Battle

Reversi Battle is totally different. Rather than a race for a survival, it’s a race for domination. Every bomb you lay turns over squares that match your bomber (blue squares for blue bomber, etc.). You can get hit by a bomb, but if you do, you’ll lose all of your power-ups and half of your territory. Whoever has the highest numbers of squares at the end wins.

Reversi is probably the most frantic of the bunch. One minute you can rule the board. The next, you may find yourself last. Winning is a matter of picking up as many power-ups as possible and laying long chains of bombs without blowing yourself up in the process.

Coin Battle

In Coin Battle, all of the obstacles are actually barrels filled with money! By blowing up the barrels you can collect the coins, and whoever has the most coins at the end wins. Once again, if you’re hit by a bomb, you won’t be out of the game. However, your power-ups and half of your coins will scatter across the arena for all of your opponents to take freely.

In my opinion, Coin Battle is the snoozer of the bunch. I’m not sure why, but it just doesn’t seem to be as much fun as the rest.

Revenge Battle

Revenge Battle puts you outside of the arena in what pretty much amounts to whack-a-mole. You toss bombs in and get points for every mole your bomb bounces off or blows up. From time to time, you can also land your bomb on special buttons that will drag one of the players into the ring, stiff and defenseless. If anyone manages to blow him up, he will lose a significant number of points. The first player that makes it to 5000 points (or whatever goal score you set in the rules) wins the match.

Revenge Battle takes some getting used to, but I kind of like it. It certainly takes a different kind of strategy to wins and offers up a nice variety.

Dodge Battle

In Dodge Battle, you don’t lay bombs and you don’t have any obstacles to worry about, but bombs are constantly flying out of the sky. You start out with punch and kick power-ups, so you do have some defenses, but most of the time, you’re frantically looking for a safe spot to hide. In this mode, the game is nice enough to let you know the blast range of each bomb, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s easy. Power Bombs, Bouncy Bombs, and Dangerous Bombs will all come down unexpectedly and blow you up while you aren’t looking. Just like in Standard Battle, the last one alive wins.

Dodge is the PGC favorite. It keeps you on your toes, and it has great music. I can’t explain why we love it so much. Perhaps the sheer simplicity of it keeps you from having to think as much as you normally do.