"An excellent party title."

Bomberman is one of gaming's most versatile characters. Having appeared on almost every console and handheld since his first appearance on the NES over 18 years ago. And now, Bomberman makes his debut on the DS, with less than spectacular results. While Bomberman is one of the best multiplayer games available for the DS, the single player game is lacking severely.

If you have never played Bomberman before, that really is a shame. Part puzzle, part platformer, Bomberman all about where and when you plant bombs in a grid. Throughout the grid there are hard blocks and soft blocks. The hard blocks block the bomb's explosion, from going in certain directions. The hard blocks can never be destroyed. Soft blocks, however, can be destroyed by your bombs. And hidden underneath these soft blocks is your ticket out of the level. However, the portal to the other level will not open until all of the enemies are defeated.

With the single player game, there is nothing that anyone has not seen before. In fact, this version has actually regressed from the previous games, because instead of having a platforming quest for a single player game, there is only a grid, like in the battle mode.

And playing a battle mode by yourself is not fun. Luckily, there are over two dozen different multiplayer battle modes that you can try out.. Along with traditional deathmatch modes, they have multiple king of the hill modes, where you need to rush yourself through a maze of blocks to get to a crown at the top of the level. Others where there you are not trying to kill your enemies, but instead, need to have as many tiles their own color, by bombing them. And because you have the ability to play with seven other people, with of them needing their own cart, Bomberman makes excellent use of the DS' wireless link-up. And face it, nothing is better than eight player Bomberman.

Graphically, Bomberman DS does not look any better than the multiple Game Boy Advance versions that Hudson Soft made. When they first showed off the game at E3 in 2004, they originally had shown a 3D game, with an isometric view of the playing field. A year later, it looks like they stuck with 2D, flat environments. While that is a step back, there must have been a reason for them to switch midway through development. For the introduction video, you actually see what the original game would look like, because they use the 3D engine from the original build of the game. And knowing that the DS could do much better 2D than what is seen in this game, it's just a little disheartening, that most people do not try and get the best out of the DS.

Bomberman does use the DS' unique capabilities very well. For every battle mode, each battle stage spans both screens, and a few different battle modes change how you can move between each screen. Also, the touch screen is used when you activate the ability to get revenge. In any battle mode, when you die, a small cannon appears at the bottom of the screen. When you flick the bottom of the screen, a bomb will blow out of the cannon, and if you blow up another person, you have a chance to go back into the game.

The microphone is also used, for two new battle modes. In one mode, if you yell into the microphone, Bomberman lays down a bomb. For the other, you lay down the down using the face buttons, and then you yell into the microphone, the bombs blows up. When you play in close proximity to anyone in this mode, it will quickly become a heated shout-fest. Good fun for all.

If you have a few friends who have a DS, but no games to play, you should bring this over for some multiplayer mayhem. However, if you want a deep, single player experience, it would be smarter to pick up something like Kirby or Meteos.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/05