Bomberman Jetters

"Bummer, man"

Everyone knows Bomberman, and everyone loves Bomberman, most notably because of his always addictive multiplayer mode. Hudson Soft has tried repeatedly to tack on a single-player adventure, though. The results were ofen mixed. Yet Bomberman Generation was actually quite fun and refreshing, and so Jetters follows in line with pretty much the same graphics, format, and charm. Well, sort of.

Graphics:
You could call it a more stylized Bomberman Generation, if by stylized you mean "dull in color, flat, and uninviting." It's like they took the quality from Generation and bleached it. Levels are cluttered with all kinds of overbearingly ugly objects, and the load times are tedious (strange, I don't remember seeing any in Generation), but the FMV's from the show are kind of fun. No real framerate problems, at least.

Sound:
The voice acting is, as always, kiddy and bordering on annoying (though sometimes they say something in such a way that it's really funny). The music has the generic quality most people expect from a video game (very chipper and "beepy"), but many of the songs are much better than Generation's soundtrack. The File Select song, in particular, is really cool. I mean, who puts that much work into a File Select song?! The sound effects completely destroy this section, however. Loud, obnoxious, and very repetetive. After hearing a bat squeal for the twentieth time in only three minutes, I wanted to break the TV. There's no option to turn these off, either.

Gameplay:
Drop bomb. Wait for it to blow up. Proceed. While the game does incorporate some clever things about how you drop bombs, most of the puzzles are pretty lame. You'll make your way through a lacking variety of levels, fight mediocre bosses and a slew of incredibly dumb enemies, and drop lots of bombs. Levels are very linear, very small, and very cluttered. Part of this clutter are the invisible walls. These keep Bomberman from falling off ledges, forcing you to work around some stupid puzzle to get to the ground floor. It's ridiculous and makes no sense, especially when they throw in these special abilities that allow you to jump across "certain" gaps. Why not all gaps? The ability to play as Bomberman and Max offers nothing new to the table, either. Switching between them doesn't put you in new places with different kinds of puzzles. It's just a matter of who you like to see on screen more. The Charabombs, on the other hand, are a creative mix to the game by not only adding variance to the puzzles, but also giving you something to balance. But in the end, you realize the game is so narrow (in design and scope), it's not any fun. This flat, no-jumping world of Bomberman's is getting kind of old. He's in need of some change.

Controls:
General movement is easy. Everything else is not. You'll have a hard time navigating yourself around bombs you just placed or even trying to pick up or kick a recently placed bomb. Bomberman becomes momentarily paralyzed whenever he falls or gets touched by an enemy or object. Bomberman also moves ridiculously slow, even after collecting several skate power-ups. The camera, at least, is okay. It's a free-rotating device that feels very comfortable, but prevents you from seeing much of the level at any one time. Heard enough ranting?

Frustration:
It's the little things like getting stuck on a bomb or enemy and continually finding yourself paralyzed. The enemies alone make the game 80% frustrating and 20% boring, since there are so many of them, and they're so stupid and hard to kill. Having to restart an entire level when you die is also frustrating, as well as some pretty sour boss battles. These battles are long and redundant, not really hard, but you die anyway because of cheap tricks. The cluttered feel of every level adds another point to this section.

Lasting Appeal:
There's not even any initial appeal. The single player mode is short lived and not very much fun. It'll take you about five hours straight through, though there are some "collectibles" to go back and get. By the time you beat the game, you have access to better powerups that actually make the game a little interesting. The problem is, there really aren't any fun levels to play over and over again. Enter: four-player support. Multiplayer is always a hoot, but the Jetters incarceration is nothing special. If you already own a Bomberman game, you've seen everything this has to offer. While some of the new multiplayer modes might grab your attention for a little while, they just don't cut it.

Overall:
I know what you're thinking. "This is Bomberman, and for twenty bucks!" I promise you, that money can be spent on something far better. The multiplayer mode is the only reason why this is any good, but even then, it's nothing new. Hudson Soft only needs to make one Bomberman game per console, unless they're going to actually improve the series in some way (and believe me, this adventure stuff is in need of improvement). All Jetters wants to do is be another Bomberman Generation, but we already have a Generation. So buy that game instead.

Points:
+ Classic 4-player goodness
+ Inclusion of Charabombs
-- Boring and tedious
-- Annoying
-- Stupid enemies
-- Feels and looks like a cheap port

Score: 4/10

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/04, Updated 11/07/04