"A blessing and a curse."

Ever since the Bomberman franchise really took off there has been a rule that has followed in around with every single release it has gone through: buy the game for the multiplayer, not the single player. Now although many would come to think having a series without a decent single player campaign would not fare very well, and really it makes sense that way, but surprisingly Hudson's creation has been going fairly strong for quite sometime now, but not without attempts to bring the single player up to par with the multiplayer such as Bomberman 64 a 3D adventure players experience on the Nintendo 64 and the action RPG spin off Bomberman tournament on the Gameboy Advance. But these attempts never really lived up to the classic formula that the little pyrotechnics expert began in, and for now it's the best you'll find from the series.

Gameplay
As one my gather from the title the DS edition returns to the classic 2D top down grid based formula he started out in. The concept is simple: make your way through the maze like area as you strategically place explosives to defeat enemies and clear the path of blocks to clear the way and reveal items that will be vital to progress, however there has been a new little twist to this formula that concerns the items. In the later versions of this game once you fall victim to your own bombs or enemies you would start out at your weakest level like most games of this caliber, but in the title items you collect along the way aren't automatically used when obtained but rather are added to something of a stockpile that is accessed with the bottom screen were you power up your character however you see fit. This mean that even when you get an item you don't need you can just save it for later when you will which also adds more incentive to actually blow up all the blocks so you can get more powerups, making the levels a little more involving. This adds a little more depth since the touch screen is accessible at any time, even offering opportunities to save yourself from a mishaps with bombs or an enemy if your quick, and before every stages begins you can choose which items to use before the stage begins allowing a little bit of strategy for some the boss stages that take the item screen away during the boss fight itself.

But despite the fact that this feature does add a little customization and deeper gameplay to the formula it also makes it extremely easy. With the item screen you no longer have the mad dash to get you firepower or bombs back, you can just horde everything you see and make yourself all powerful from the get go. And not only that, but there are so many items at your disposal that almost every challenge of the game can be bypassed if you fully utilize every item that ranges from shields to item revealers to even a suit that makes you invincible for a good amount of time then if that wasn't enough there is a bonus stage halfway through the ten worlds the game spans out on which just hands over these items like nothing else. So thanks to this single player is once again left with a weak and uneventful game that now doesn't even really have any challenge to it at all, but as expected where the single player fails, the multiplayer succeeds and with the option of having eight players play on one cartridge, which was a very smart move since absolutely anyone with a DS can download and play making accessibility to the game high and just makes the multiplayer that much sweeter.

The multi player is not too different from the single player in terms of play; you're still trying to move around a grid like arena blowing up stuff, only now the enemies are smart. But to add more to the gameplay tons of option and field configurations that use the two screens as the field instead one with an item pile on the bottom. One of the many features even includes utilization of the DS microphone to detonate bombs, use shields, and other various actions, which is a nice touch but the microphone does not respond well, and unless you literally scream to the top of your lungs you'll have to bring the DS to your face and speak into the little mike which makes you very vulnerable to attack and other problems, plus it will probably get on your nerves when others are constantly yelling at a game machine. But this is a small flaw considering the rest works so well and if you can find a good number of friends to play with this game can very possibly bring nearly infinite value. And even if you have one of two friends with a DS computer controlled bots can be activated to fill in the gaps.

Visuals
The overall design is wrapped around the old school format of the original games, which is necessary since this game being what it is, a recreation of the original an does look nice but isn't exactly what you'd call anything amazing at all, in fact it's underwhelming at best. It would have been nice to see some 3D effects here and there so it doesn't look like it belongs on the Gameboy Advance. But really this isn't a game that graphic would hinder in any case so it does its job just fine.

Audio
The typical upbeat and cute vocals you'd likely expect from the game, they too and nothing really amazing but do sound rather catchy at times and do not really annoy to any degree, but your not exactly missing too terribly much by keeping the sound dial in the off position.

Overall
As anyone has likely heard from a review of nearly any Bomberman game your obligation to purchase this title is not for the single player but the multiplayer instead and with the total of eight possible players, easy accessibility by only requiring on cartridge and tons of different modes and options to tinker with it's an even stronger obligation in this games case. The single player actually does have potential with it's item of storing items, but wasn't fully utilized to it's full potential and pretty much became more of a thorn in the game's side that a blessing and being that fact that it is the option of giving this game a high rating is difficult, but with the multiplayer upping the ante so much this game is hard to ignore. If you've been waiting for a title to really put the DS wireless multiplayer to good use then your wait is over.

Overall score: 7.9

Pros
+Wonderful multiplayer that's better than ever
+ Eight players can play off one cartridge
Cons
-Weak single player… as always
- The voice feature doesn't work too well
- Touch screen could have been better utilized

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/27/05