Bomberman Max 2: Red Advance

"A fun game for everyone."

Gameplay: 9 of 10

The game is built in stages just like every other bomberman game. You walk around planting bombs, running, blowing up enemies/blocks, and repeating. It sounds boring, but most people who've played a Bomberman game should know that this is very fun. You get powerups like a Bomb-Up or Fire-Up which make it so you can plant more bombs at a time, or your blast radius is bigger.
In each substage you must clear the level by meeting the goal the Doc tells you about. You may have to find a Charabom (I'll talk about it later), blow up every soft block (destroyable obstacle), or defeat each enemy.
Charaboms are creatures that affect how either Bomberman, that's the Blue version of Bomberman Max 2, or Max, the Red version, can do things. They can increase blast radius, or do other things. Sometimes you must have a certain Charabom to get through a certain part of the game. Among having Charaboms benefit you, you also ''feed'' your Charaboms powerups you find on the field, as in Attack-Up, Defense-Up, and Star-Up's.
The only obstacle to all this fun is probably that some people will become bored. The game is somewhat hard in some parts especially when you've gotten so far, touch an enemy, and poof, spontaneously combust (literally!). The levels get hard in some parts as well.

Graphics: 10 of 10

This game has the good ol' graphics we've gotten used to and expect from Gameboy Advance Games. There's nicely made three-dimensional-'ish graphics, and the shading of the characters and all the objects are wonderful. And that blast from bombs that we've all begun to love (I'm just kidding, ok?). Anyway, it looks real nice.

Sound: 8 of 10

Now I have to admit that the sound here isn't the best. I'm not going to give it this super-high rating like some game obsessies do. The sound effects are pretty good. The music gets a little boring after a while, though. I do understand that the game developers packed a lot of music into the cartridge, and I appreciate that. But the sound isn't the most important quality of this game.

Plot: 8 of 10

This plot isn't really that exciting, if you think of it. It's about how Bomberman and Max have been shrunk and have to defeat the boss of the HIGE HIGE bandits to save the world from evil... You have to walk around doing the usual Bomberman things. I'm not really going to dock any more points because of this, but I have to say there are some games with an even stupider plot.

Controls: 10 of 10

The control system is standard for Bomberman games. Walk around with the D-Pad, push B for bomb. Start for pause, Select for save/quit menu, and R/L for Charabom select. In menus, A is yes and B is cancel. Standard stuff, but it's been tried and true.

Replay value: 9/10

The game is pretty fun to replay. There is two-player battle, and one cartridge link-up. The battle mode is a good way to show off to your friends with your Charaboms because you can battle them. You can also replay the game again if you've finished it. Of course, you can also try to make your Charabom the best and rule the world! (Just kidding again!)

And the grand totals:

Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 8/10
Plot: 8/10
Controls: 10/10
Replay: 9/10
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Average: 54/60 = 9/10

Overall rating: 9/10

And the final question: To buy or not to buy?
I'd say to buy because overall this is a good game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/04/02, Updated 06/04/02