Bomberman Hero
Reviewed by Scott McCall
There are some things in life that go hand-in-hand. Cookies and milk.
Cake and ice cream. Beer and pretzels. Bomberman and a multi-player
mode. Sunday and football. Old people and golf. So if there are
things that are so synonymous with each another, why would you
ever, ever change them? Likewise, why would you ever release a
Bomberman game without a multi-player mode? Yes, it's blasphemy
that it happened, but Bomberman Hero has hit the N64 without such
a mode.
Somewhat surprisingly, Bomberman 64 turned out to be a pretty big
hit for Nintendo with a quite a loyal following of its Adventure
mode. I thought the Adventure mode sucked, but let's get back to the
task at hand. Now that Bomberman Hero is nothing but a one-player
adventure, how did it turn out? Let's say that it's not bad by any
means -- maybe kind of fun, in fact -- but it should be mentioned that
it's geared more toward kids.
In this Bomberman adventure, it seems that the planet Primus Star
was attacked by the Garaden Empire. Princess Millian was kidnapped
in the process, too. A weird robot, Pibot, escaped via spaceship -- but
it crashed. Bomberman was told to check out the crash, came across
the robot, and thus, Pibot was able to tell him about the trouble. So
now it's up to Bomberman to save the universe.
Control in Bomberman Hero consists of firsts and familiarity. Like
usual, only the Control Stick can be used for movement. Press it
a little to walk and a lot to run. The only problem is that it's too
loose. The A button is for jumping -- a Bomberman first. The B
button throws bombs, and you can walk, run, and jump while throwing
and aiming them. Holding down the B button enables a special "Rolling
Bomb" attack. The R button or Bottom C button (you can use either one)
lets you set a bomb in place. You can then kick it by pressing the button
again or by running into it. The Z button explodes a remote control
bomb. Finally, the Left, Right, and Top C buttons let you temporarily
and slightly adjust the camera. You cannot move while controlling the
camera, nor can you change it permanently. It's almost kind of useless,
which can be frustrating. There are also slightly different control
schemes for your Power Gear -- Bomber Marine, Bomber Copter,
Bomber Slider, and Bomber Jet -- and for Louie. In the case of the
Power Gear toys, it's usually that the A button ascends, the B button
hovers, and the R, Z, or Bottom C button is your attack. In the case
of Louie, an animal you can ride on, you destroy things by jumping on them.
One of the nice things about Bomberman Hero is the vast number
of levels. There are like five planets, with three areas and a boss,
and each of the areas has about four to seven levels inside! That means
there are over 50 levels in the game. Also of note about the levels
is that each one is relatively short, straightforward, and easy to
complete. Furthermore, some levels have several exits. Fortunately,
you can go back and play any level already completed. In a nice change of
pace from the "collect X number of these items, X number of these, X
number of these..." type of gameplay seen in Super Mario 64,
Banjo-Kazooie, et al., you basically only have to reach the exit. There
are crystals to collect along the way (200 will increase your life meter
by one; you start out with four pieces of the meter and can get up to
eight), which net you points, and you can defeat enemies for more
points. There is a target number of points to reach on each stage. If you
defeat all enemies and find all items, you should have a perfect score,
if not a few more points! But it's not necessary to do this unless you
want to open up the secrets. Even then, it not as painstaking to collect
and kill everything as in other 3D games.
There are quite a few items in the game. First of all, you can find
some classic Bomberman power-ups. For example, the Bomb Up
increases the number of bombs you have (up to four). Fire Up
increases the blast radius of the bomb blasts (up to four). Then
there are these other power-ups: Remote Control bombs (detonators),
Life Hearts (fills energy by one), Full Hearts (fills all the way),
1-Ups (extra life), Salt Bombs (used to solely destroy slugs),
Freeze Bombs (freeze enemies), Fire Resistance Suits (makes it
so severe conditions, i.e., wind, will not damage you), Wall-Through
items (lets you walk through walls), and Power Gloves (used to
throw bombs farther).
There are many non-power-up items you'll encounter, too: Bubble
Panels (makes Bomberman float), Transceivers (for hints),
Crystals (collect to increase your life meter; blue is worth one
crystal and 50 points, red is worth five crystals and 250 points),
Gold Stones (worth 500 points), Rainbow Stones (worth 1,000
points), Key Crystals (collect four to open the exit on some levels),
Card Keys (must be found on some levels to open doors),
Other-Dimension Bombs (hidden on many levels; opens up a secret
if all are collected), and Data Disks (needed to open certain doors).
Graphically, Bomberman Hero is certainly nowhere near as good
looking as Banjo-Kazooie. Curiously, it's not as sharp or colorful
as Bomberman 64's Adventure mode, either. The graphics are
actually kind of bland, albeit with its share of variety and subsequent
repetition over the span of the game, without any real special
effects or anything. There can be too much object-based pop-up
on certain levels, too. Although I must say that it makes decent
use of real-time cinema sequences, and you'll notice that
Bomberman is more animated than before.
Sound-wise, again, Bomberman Hero doesn't seem to be as good as
Bomberman 64. The interesting mix of computer/space-related
music and sound effects and typically happy, soothing Japanese
music won't appeal to many people. You may opt to turn it off, but
I enjoy its cheesy nature. Sound effects are nothing special, and there's
even a teeny bit of voice in the game.
Bomberman Hero emerges as a surprisingly fun game. The straightforward
nature of the game design means kids will probably get the most
enjoyment, but for some reason it also made me think back to the
fun and gameplay of 8-bit Nintendo games. Alas, there is no multi-player
mode, which means the gameplay and lastability scores are going to
have to be docked. Bomberman Hero is something you'll definitely
want to check out if you're into platform games, though. Now that
its one-player mode is heading in the right direction, how about
bringing back a brand-new, improved multi-player mode?
Graphics: 3.3 out of 5
Sound: 3.2 out of 5
Control: 3.3 out of 5
Gameplay: 3.7 out of 5
Lastability: 2.9 out of 5
Overall: 3.4 out of 5