Atomic Bomberman

"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO, it's Bomberman!"

Bomberman's first game on the PC was not entirely successful. It failed, mainly due to a lack of single player action, but apart from that, it was not at all bad.

Music/Sound - The sound effects for Bomberman were one of the better parts of the game. There many humourous sounds in the game, which avoid becoming repetitive due the vast amount of them. The music, however, is not nearly as good. It seems as if it was chosen to contrast the gameplay, although it is far too quiet to provide any sort of distraction.

Graphics - The graphics for this game are fairly good. There are different animations for when your Bomberman dies or is trapped, and the actual Bomberman himself looks alright. The only letdown in this part of the game is the graphics for the arena, which are boring and unimaginative.

Gameplay - The gameplay is by far the best part of the game. With up to 10 different players, in either a free for all or teams, the game last for quite a long time. You can even have more than one player using the keyboard, so online gaming is not your only choice to play against a friend. There are also several different arena styles, which add just that little bit extra to the gameplay and you can use one of the many pre-created arena layouts, or create your own! Unfortunately, this game is lacking one thing; a single player mode. If you've got no friends who share your love for Bomberman and you don't want to shell out for the online gaming, your only option is to play against the AI, which isn't half as fun.

Replay/Lifespan - Atomic Bomberman's replay value is rather low. You can't go back and get a better score on single player, because there isn't one. You might play this game again from time to time, but it's unlikely. Once you've played it for a couple of hours, you've seen all there is to see, done all there is to do and realized just how short this game is. They could have easily put in an adventure mode, but they haven't, and without it, the game just doesn't last.

Overall - Despite having a fairly good gameplay, this game suffers from having no single player. There's about 100 different Bomberman games, and you can probably find at least one that's more worth your money that this.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/04/02, Updated 07/04/02