The bomber is back, and no, Osama did not recruit him, and this time he’s portable. Konami has brought back the puzzle adventure Bomberman and he’s back in an all new adventure with 100 different stages and new power-up items. Bomb’s away!

Features

• All new adventure with 100 new levels and new items.
  
• Customizable multiplayer games.
  
• Up to 4 players in multiplayer, both Online and ad hoc.
  

Gameplay

The idea behind Bomberman is to be a puzzle/adventure game that has the user place bombs strategically to eliminate the evil creatures that inhabit each stage. This was the idea when the game was first released in the 90’s and Konami decided not to rock the boat. The game has been updated through the esthetics and kept the strategy aspect intact which made the game both unique and successful.

The main objective of the game is to get through each stage by getting rid of all the enemies. There are hard barriers and soft walls that impede your way through the level. The hard barriers can not be destroyed but the soft walls can be destroyed by placing a bomb next to the wall. Once the wall is destroyed, sometimes a power up item will appear that can be saved for a future stage or life, or the item can be equipped immediately. Power ups are categorized by duration: life of player, stage, or timed. The longest lasting items would be speed boosts (meaning a player can move faster), more bombs (the player can lay more bombs at a time), or more powerful blasts. The items that last for a stage or life of player, whichever is shorter, are: items such as the ability to kick bombs the length of the level, the ability to see through soft walls, the ability to move through laid bombs, mine bombs and remote detonation. Temporary power ups would be items such as invincibility, clock (adding one minute of extra time in the normal game mode), and “Fire man” which protects the player from bomb blasts.

Playing the game breaks-down as follows, the player controls the character by using the directional pad, placing bombs can be executed by pressing the Circle button, scrolling through items is done by using the shoulder buttons R and L. To use the intended item, the user will have to press the Square button. Before starting a stage, the player can receive information about the items by pressing the Triangle button and if the kicking power up has been applied, the Triangle button stops the kicked bombs.

Graphics

Originally, Bomberman was a 2D puzzle game but Konami has updated the game visually for the PSP. All the characters are as 3D as they can be considering the view of the game is still basically overhead. Each world is colorful and the barriers are easily differentiated between the soft walls. The bomb explosions are nicely detailed but sometimes when you think the character is out of the way of the explosion, that’s not necessarily true. The character may appear to be behind a hard barrier but an arm might be in contact with the explosion; so the best way to avoid any contact with an explosion is to get far away to be sure.

The HUD keeps track of the players’ stats such as lives left, time left, score, and the amount of bomb and explosion power ups used. A nice feature is that the items list is fully accessible during the game, so items collected during a stage can be applied in that same stage; and with a flick of the joystick, the user can see power up abilities applied for that stage or applied during that specific stage.

Final Word

Bomberman is everything that we have come to know and enjoy; this is an update on a game that we all know and everything should come to veterans intuitively. Konami applied the “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” principle but rather cleaned the game up for a new portable generation.