"Is this the only game series Hudson Soft makes or something?"

OPENING STATEMENT
Bomberman 64. Yet another Bomberman game from Hudson Soft. Except for this time on a next generation console with an entirely new look and feel. A look and feel I prefer over Bombermans of the past.

GAMEPLAY--8
This is an entirely new gameplay system from the Super Bomberman games on the Super Nintendo. Well, except for the fact that you throw bombs and kick bombs, of course. Bomberman 64 is not a maze game. Instead, there are almost Super Mario 64 sized levels for you to get to the end of. This is an improvement I certainly like. Now we have puzzles to complete, bosses to face, and much more freedom than we did in the past.

The main point of the gameplay is too get to the end of each level a la Donkey Kong Country. Enemies are defeated with the usage of bombs which our hero Bomberman can either plant, throw, or kick at his foes. There are special kind of bombs too, such as remote bombs. But, specialized bombs really come into play in Bomberman Hero, not so much Bomberman 64.

GRAPHICS--6
These graphics look great at first. But, in this game, unfortunately, my first impression did not last a lifetime. Soon I began to notice pixelization and LOTS of polygon tearing. The polygon tearing is horrendous, and it almost made me shut Bomberman 64 off. Other than that very major problem, the graphics are fine. The lava does not look very realistic, but I’ve never seen lava in real life so I am not exactly sure what it looks like. Bomberman himself reflects the light like anyone in a metal suit would do. The environments are bright and colorful. If it was not for the polygon tearing, this would be a spectacular job.

MUSIC--7
SOUND--9
The music is above average, but nothing spectacular. It all seems a bit too happy for a game where the goal is to destroy everything in sight with bombs. The music is based a lot on percussion, but I must say it is pretty weird to hear a melody on a snare drum. Bomberman 64’s tunes are very fast moving and they do a great job keeping up with the frantic pace of the game.

I was far more impressed with the sound effects. There was a good variety of them, and they were all well (and tastefully) done. The explosions sound just like someone popping a bag in the school lunchroom. That was my biggest problem with the sound effects. Other than that, Most of the sound effects sound like something you have never heard before.

CONTROL--7
At times I had trouble controlling Bomberman. The game was not responding well to my controller. And YOU CAN’T JUMP. Thankfully, that problem was resolved in Bomberman Hero. ‘A’ and ‘B’ are used for planting, kicking, and pumping up (pressing ‘A’ and ‘B’ at the same time to make the bomb get larger, and in turn, more powerful) the bombs. The rest of the buttons do not come into play that much. You will probably have to change the camera angle a lot.

FUN--8
I was not as impressed with the multiplayer mode as everyone else at GameFAQs seems to be. I think only having six arenas was very pathetic, and that made it as unenjoyable as it could be for me. I do like the Team Battle Mode, and I also like how some hazard comes into play if you turn a certain option on, and the Battle Timer goes under one minute. And I like he customization that you can do as you find the parts in the single player mode. I just absolutely detested the arenas and the amount of arenas. The thing that was best about the classic Bomberman games was the multiplayer, and Hudson Soft changed all of that.

I found the one-player mode very in-depth and entertaining though. The levels had plenty of enemies, and multiple paths, and hazards, and sheer size against you, but yet playing through every level was still fun.

CHALLENGE--MEDIUM TO HIGH
I can safely say that this is one of the most difficult Nintendo 64 games around. As I mentioned before, the levels all are chock full of enemies, multiple paths, hazards, and the like. This makes getting to the end point very, very difficult at times. The bosses are even harder at times, but I did not find the halfway bosses too difficult, I just found them a pain.

REPLAY VALUE--MEDIUM
The multiplayer, although not as good as in Super Bomberman, is still worth some of your time. The one-player missions, after I beat them I did not really have a lot to do with, but I replayed one or two of them. Well, actually I did go back and play every mission over again. And that was to get all of the elusive gold cards. I still occasionally play multiplayer, but only because Bomberman Hero did not have multiplayer.

PROS
*Bomberman translates well to the three dimensional world.
*New bomb power-ups.
*Custom parts for Bomberman.

CONS
*You cannot jump.
*Not enough multiplayer arenas.
*Single player game needs to be more complex.

CLOSING STATEMENT
Bomberman 64 is one of the best Bomberman’s single player wise, but not multiplayer wise. Either way, it is still an above average game, and for those of you who love Bomberman, it is a must have.

OVERALL--7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/18/01, Updated 07/18/01