Bomberman Tournament

"The fuse is short, but the bang is amazing"

Surrounded by short-lived dynamite carriers, slowly shortening their one link to remain in tact, their fuse, forcing Bomberman to contemplate his situation very hastily. Quickly, he calls on the power of one of his rescued friends, a karabon, to throw the explosive deathtrap over the bushes, preventing Bomberman from being injured by his own creation. This is just another day in the life of the main character of this game, Bomberman. Your job on this adventure: Find Max, and to do so, defeat all your enemies, including the five dastardly bombers, your main antagonists. On completing your mission, you will meet a multitude of little monsters, which go by the name of Karabon. They will provide you with helpful talents to make your mission as easy as possible. If you need a breather, you can find some of your bombing friends for some harmless exploding action
As you walk into your first forest, or your first dungeon, you will not notice the swaying leaves on the tree, or the smoothed stone in the ground, but you will be able to identify your surroundings very well. Details will not be noticed while your bombs will be going off, or even when they are not, since they are non-existent. The grass won't sway, nor will anybody show body language towards the famous Bomberman. Although the rough edges on that surround the package aren't polished, the overall environment is very serviceable.
Although the visions may not be good for your Bomberman's eyes at this point of his overview and adventure, the extras of his eyesight and yours are fairly bright. Bomberman's friends, the Karabon, are very nice looking for the limitations of his world. The underwater world of fun is nicely designed and the water effects are nice. In fact, Bomberman and his foes are nicely designed, if not detailed to perfection. To finish of the shell of Bomberman's extensive world, the coloring is pretty average, for a release under the circumstances his world could be created under.
Now, if there is one thing Bomberman has impaired after countless abuses to his body due to ''misplaced bombs'', it would likely be his ears. Some of the odd things our little hero hears will not shock, nor impress any on-lookers. The doors that slam that you never actually see is one of the many things that our fearless hero would have to wonder about. The extremely exaggerated sound of bombs blasting off and anything to do with fire or explosions is another wonder of the world. About as confusing and as hard to distinguish as our favorite bat-eating superstar's voice. Meanwhile, the slight music that plays constantly throughout our bombing friends world is about as noticeable as Waldo in his books, in other words, it is not noticeable or memorable.
As you will discover as you watch our red, white and blue hero, you will see he does not have a very long road to rescue Max and defeat his captors. This could be one of the shortest adventures in the history of handheld adventures. His journey could be about as long as a day of working his powers. His new friends, the Karabon, are in for a very short trip around his world.
Although his Bomberness' adventure is short, it is power packed and just plain great to control and watch. As his powers increase along the way, Bomberman's explosiveness gets more and more exciting, You will see him prowl through caves, going through the open fields, and exploring underwater depths, having great control of his abilities. He moves very well and has a great ability for placing bombs in the right places, and getting away very quickly. Good thing he is swift on his feet though, since in some areas, constant nuisances, such as falling rocks, spitting fire, and fast enemies require the ability of extreme speed and being able to stop on a dime.
His Karabon steal the show in the quest of Bomberman. As Bomberman raises them, you will see their power in the arena become incredible to weaker enemies in the Tournaments than can give out valuable items and cold hard coins out to strong Karabon. Their abilities are very innovative, and really make the game shine, showing some of Bomberman's weaknesses.
What really shines in the game is when Bomberman wants a break, and sees some of his friends for a friendly battle. In more environments than his actual quest itself, the fun filled and fast paced battles of bombing greatness are extremely addictive and just plain fun. From an area that is normal and packed full of power-ups, to a wide-open area with only little barricades to save you. Also, with the winner being able to fish for a power-up for the next battle, there is some great incentive, and still being bale to throw bombs after being blown up is a nice treat of revenge.
To sum this game up, the quest is short but extremely sweet. The graphics are just plain mediocre, while the sound is not memorable by any means. The game play though in Bomberman's quest (Not the other game, the quest in this game) is extremely solid, and the multi player is an all-out blast.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/02, Updated 07/13/02