Gamers from around the world love the Bomberman franchise. This series has been accessible on nearly every single console that has been released. The reason for this love is the simple, yet highly addicting, gameplay. Players take a bomb, break out of their “brick prison,” obtain upgrades, and try to trap other players with their highly potent bombs. To fully immerse players in the game even more, they can customize their characters with different outfits that are hilarious to see while playing. It is this personalization and addictive gameplay that helped make this franchise a favorite among many.

Throughout the years, the developers have been trying to expand the single-player mode to make it more engaging and addicting. Even though there have been several new additions, sadly the developers haven’t been able to capture the magic contained in “classic” Bomberman gameplay. Hopping to change that, the developers have released the first Bomberman game on the Nintendo Wii entitled Bomberman Land.

When first loading Bomberman Land, gamers will have three game modes to participate in: Attraction, Story, and Battle. Attraction mode is where players can play any of the mini games that they have already unlocked in the Story mode with up to four players. In story mode, the main goal is to become champion of Bomberman Land by getting the highest ranking in the five different zones (ring, delta, diamond, star, and energy). In order to advance between each zone, players must purchase different licenses as well as winning ranked battles. While in this mode, players have the option to wander around the island, shop for new outfits, play attractions (mini-games), and train for the various events to go to the next zone. 

Interesting mini-game..

One of the worst things about the story mode is that it takes forever to actually get to play the game. When the game is first loaded, players will be bombarded with numerous (non-skip-able and slow) text boxes that tells the story. Players will then be moved from various places, but will still be forced to read even more text boxes. What makes this even worse is the story is extremely generic, so this reading these text boxes proves to be pure torture for the players. Once players finally get to control their characters they will find out that most of this game mode is about various mini-games that are very generic and boring to play, there is no real “Bomberman” action to be found.

Honestly the real meat of this game, and the only reason many people will want to own it, is the Battle mode. Up to four players can complete in “classic Bomberman” action. There are numerous scenarios that players can choose from such as: normal, star, point, crown, all-out, and Wii. The normal mode is the standard Bomberman game that players know and love. Star mode is where players collect star panels. The person with the most star panels wins. Point is where players collect points by defeating their opponents - the most at the end wins. In crown, the first person to get to, and touch the crown (that is hidden in the level) wins. All-Out is a random battle and special rules are enforced. Wii mode is where players throw bombs (using the Wii-mote) to the spot it points to, trying to take out the other players. This mode is worth the cost of the package, especially if players do not have any other classic Bomberman games available to play.

So much fun!

The unlockables for this game will keep players occupied for a while. As always, players will be able to unlock a wide variety of costumes for their characters to wear. It is always enjoyable to see what new costumes have been unlocked for players to use to personalize their own character. Also there are numerous mini-games for players to find and try to beat. It is a shame that most of the mini-games are very generic and not that fun to play.

The graphics for this game are decent, but the Nintendo Wii is capable of more than what is offered. The only emotion that players will get is through the characters eyes and mouths, and it really isn’t even that good. Basically, the entire game is not that detailed and doesn’t “pop” as much as it should. To add insult to injury the sound effects and music to this game are horrid. The sound effects used are beyond annoying, and the music will grate on player’s nerves as well. Players will want to mute this game immediately if they value their ear drums.

Bomberman Land is rated for everyone.

Gameplay: 5.0
The classic Bomberman remains really fun to play, but the new single-player adventure mode is not as fun as it can be. Players will find themselves playing the classic mode then the adventure mode, and that should worry the developers.

Graphics: 6.5
The developers can do much better than this. While the classic Bomberman looks great, the rest of the game suffers from “could have looked better” syndrome. The Wii is capable of much more then what this game provides.

Sound: 3.3
The sound effects and music are just horrible.

Difficulty: Easy
Gamers will not find any challenge here.

Concept: 5.1
The game really doesn’t offer anything new to the franchise, it has a very “been there, done that” feeling to it.

Multiplayer 5.9
Up to four gamers can play together, although not having true online mode really hurts.

Overall: 5.9
I love the classic Bomberman in this game; in fact that is about the only thing I like about this game. The new content of this game is boring and not worth the price of admittance. If you are dying for a Bomberman game for your system, then check this game out; otherwise this game is best left as a rental.