Bomberman Hero

"BOOM!..... Yawn"

I doubt anyone was PARTICULARLY looking forward to the arrival of Bomberman Hero, I mean did anyone REALLY like Bomberman 64? I know I didn't, the multiplayer was obviously cursed, taking away all the fun of the flat 2d arenas and bringing in new highly unwanted 3d multi-leveled travesties.

So Hudson obviously thought that what with it being so um-popular now, they'd scrap the multiplayer ENTIRELY for the sequel, they must not have the word 'improving' in their dictionary. Did anyone really care about the one player game in the original bomberman on SNES? I know I didn't, it was fine in two-player, but overall it was a dullish puzzle game. In bomberman 64, the one player game was the main focus, and unfortunately it wasn't very good, not terrible, just below-average. In bomberman Hero it is the only focus, no classic improved multiplayer like we had all hoped.

Luckily the one-player game is a great deal better than it's predecessor. Unlike some sections of the last one, it involves very little (if any) thought, and is a fast frantic explosive journey through 80+ pretty big levels, and there are lots of little vehicles to find along the way that you can play with, and they often provide much amusement. And of course loveable old Louie (No, I don't know who he is either) is there to take you for a ride.

In the way of gameplay style, this is a little like Crash Bandicoot, only with a teensy bit more exploring, it could have been brilliant, and it also could have been much much worse. One problem, is judging your bomb distance from where you throw it, it could and does go anywhere, this can be very very frustrating, and it will cost you. Neither is it something you can particularly improve upon, as throwing bombs is a near random task, that can get over-irritating, but not to the point that you won't want to play anymore.

This is another thing the game has on it's side, it's oddly compulsive. Theres enough variety in the little tasks and presentation of the levels that will make you play to the end, even if Bomberman Hero doesn't have anything special to offer, it's harmless and often great fun. The sound is the usual Japanese plinky platformer noise, so that's not anything special, and the Graphics too are fairly unspectacular, but the levels are very bright and colourful, and are not marred by a fuzzy texture like chameleon twist, so it works, and is often pleasing to the eye.

This is, overall, a positive review, so why hasn't it scored any higher than a 6? Well, the fact that there is no classic FLAT multiplayer (Which Hudson must know by now is what people want) and why else? Well, it's hard to explain, the game is very 'average' it offers nothing special and nothing you haven't seen before, and also nothing that you particularly would want, I mean Banjo Kazooie didn't have many new ideas, but it gave us a platformer with a format that we liked, and one that was fairly rare. This claustrophobic, get to the end routine is used by a million other platformers, and has been done better. But if you do buy this game, I doubt you'll be very disappointed, you'll have fun and it will last you quite a while, while never really frustrating you, although there isn't really much of a reason to buy it in the first place.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/06/01, Updated 05/06/01