After releasing perhaps the biggest turd in the 360's expanding catalog almost a year ago, Hudson would have to release one hell of a game to wash the taste of Bomberman Act Zero out of gamers' mouths. A return to the game's cartoon-style roots and a Live Arcade price tag will do that nicely.
For the uninitiated, Bomberman is a top-down action-puzzler version where gamers must bomb their way through a maze for a game of 'last man standing'. While blasting your way through the maze, exploded blockades will drop power-ups, providing gamers with upgrades for their bombs (both in number to drop at once and raw power) and the opportunity to kick, punch, or throw them. Last Bomberman standing, after the rapid-fire explosive carnage, wins. The combination of quick rounds, clever power-ups, and the bitter need for revenge makes Bomberman an ultra-addictive classic.
Gone is the post-apocalyptic style of Act Zero, as Hudson makes a smart return to the original cartoon style of Bomberman gamers have lovingly grown up playing. The graphics and animations of the game are solid, and will be familiar to anyone having played the classic versions of the game; making a decent use of the 360 without ever really 'wowing' you. The new, and vastly improved, version of Bomberman for the 360 pulls way back on the tough in favor of the 'cute'; including high-pitched vocals excitedly announcing "One more win!" when a player needs one more round to win the match.
The game takes 'cute' to a whole new level by allowing players to customize the look of their individual Bomberman with a huge array of costumes (including a teddy bear, nerd, bee-girl, cowboy, and ballerina), separated in three different portions; head, eyes, and body. Gamers collect costume balls, dropped at random through the single-player levels, to unlock a single piece of a three-piece costume. There are an impressive number of different costumes available, and with gamers' ability to pick their head, eyes, and body from different costumes, there are over 10,000 different looks possible for your Bomberman once all the costume balls are collected. The costume balls will smartly keep gamers plugging away at the single-player mode, even without offering an actual campaign to beat.
The game's single player variety of play offers depth in the form of customization rather than campaign. The game offers eight levels, allowing gamers to customize the way they play each by offering different levels of power-ups, modes of play, and length of each round; in terms of time and round wins needed for the match. The game's wealth of modes stretches the eight levels well. Modes range from standard on/off level features (quicksand or trapdoors, for example) to zombie mode, where death is a temporary setback. Since there is no single-player campaign mode, the offline side of things will only last until gamers have all the Achievements and costumes available. The game's Achievement Point structure is among the best on Live Arcade, with Achievements earned for one player dressed as a cowboy taking out another cowboy, winning when dressed as a female Bomberman, and various win levels.
As the title implies, Live is where the game earns its replay value. Live play is a bit disappointing, with hit-and-miss laggy play and odd glitches that pop up from time to time. When it works, playing Bomberman over Llive is perhaps the most addictive game currently offered over the Arcade, allowing up to eight players to bomb the living crap out of each other at once time. Games are fast-paced adrenaline pumping eruptions of retro gaming bliss. The game boasts the same set of gameplay modes over Live as on the single-player mode, even allowing up to four local players to join in on the madness of online play.
