Bomberman

N-Gage review by Matt Wadleigh - Wednesday 29th December 2004

I’m not old-school. I never played Bomberman on the NES. In fact, until just recently I had never played any Bomberman game, period. I can tell though, even with the N-Gage version, that I’ve been missing out on something. Of all the six N-Gage games that I own, Bomberman is in fact one of the most fun out of all of them, though that might not be saying much considering what I own.



Bomberman is an action-puzzley game viewed in a top down, 2D style. The storyline goes like this. Our loveable friend Bomberman is in the park one day basking in the glory of having a golden statue honoring him. As fate would have it though, the golden Bomberman statue vanishes into a warphole and only he has the arsenal to retrieve it. Bomberman heroically leaps into a closing warphole in an attempt to recover the statue.

The storyline isn’t going to win an award for being awesome, but the gameplay just might. You begin by starting in a corner of the map, armed only with bombs and surrounded by brick walls. Lay a bomb down and it’ll blow up walls. Blow up enough walls and you may find the exit to the level or you might find an enemy charging at you. This may sound simple, but there’s a lot of complexity to be found.

Bomberman begins with only a small, weak bomb, but gradually he earns a more powerful arsenal through collecting power-ups found on every map. At first, you’ll get your ass kicked if you don’t try to strategize how you’re going to kill your foes. I thought the strategy element helped out this game a lot. At the same time however, since you don’t exactly know where the end of the level is (since it’s hidden under a wall and all), you still have to force yourself to make some random decisions every now and then, which creates a sort of chaotic feel that I also appreciated.

As you progress through the stages, the enemies get faster and the levels get more complex. This is where the games difficulty really ratchets up and you’ll die quite a few times. Coming from an NES background, I’m sure I wouldn’t have cared so much, but since I grew up with a PlayStation, I found death to be a giant kick in the manhood, since you lose your power-ups each time you die. It’s like dropping a soldier onto a battlefield with a pistol when everyone else has AK-47s. It’s hard to recover, though it can be done, and fortunately, you can save the game.



Bomberman isn’t short either, so you’ll be needing that save ability. There’s a whole lot to do in this game, and since each area is randomized on start, even previously visited levels are fun to play through. The game is even multiplayer, so if you’ve got a buddy with an N-Gage the two of you can go head-to-head, but that’s a puzzle itself.

Outside of just the gameplay, I really liked the style of the characters in this game. They don’t talk or anything, but I enjoyed their design, from Bomberman himself to the different enemies that you face. I don’t think that I’ll forget the wicked snowman with a pitchfork anytime soon, or the fire lizard that seems to be mocking a certain Pokemon character. The game even manages to have a decent soundtrack, which is the first I’ve found in an N-Gage game.

Will the golden Bomberman statue ever be recovered? That’s up to you. If you have what it takes to navigate eight different worlds (which equates to dozens of levels) and destroy all that stands in your way, and you have an N-Gage, you’ll certainly be able to get this one done. If you’re an N-Gage owner, this is one of the best games on the system, and is one that your collection can’t be without.

Thunderbolt score: eight out of ten

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