Bomberman's been around for a very long time now.  He debuted in the 80's, with simplistic yet addictive gameplay and cute graphics that didn't exactly push systems like the NES, but were more than bearable.  Over time, Bomberman's received many minor gameplay additions, but the core gameplay has always been the same while the graphics and sound kept on advancing.  I admit that I haven't been following the little guy lately; I haven't played a Bomberman game since the enjoyable (but far from perfect) Bomberman 64.  I didn't have any idea that there was an entire anime based around the series, and I certainly didn't expect this game to be largely based around it.

Thankfully, it's - for the most part - a good thing.  The developers have employed a cel-shaded look that is more than fitting, and the gameplay has been appropriately adapted to fit the nature of the cartoon (or at least as far as I can tell, having never seen it).  Multiplayer is once again largely unchanged, but that's a good thing (more on that in just a moment).  The single player mode is quite a bit different, however.

There are a number of levels which you progress through in a linear order.  There's the obligatory water and fire worlds, accompanied by the interesting Green (vegetation-rich) and Underground worlds.  Each world consists of five or six levels, with a mini-boss in the middle and a real boss at the end of each.  The game is not particularly difficult; often, the only damage I received was from my own careless bombing.  I was able to breeze through the first world in it's entirety in less than two hours.

Basically, the single-player levels consist of finding your way to the exit or defeating a certain enemy (or sometimes both).  For the most part, you have to solve simplistic puzzles and figure out how to travel over the terrain.  Bomberman never could jump - and still can't - which makes traversing some areas considerably more challenging.  You have to use switches, elevators, bridges, cannons, and more to get around; none of which are terribly hard to use, but sometimes are combined in ways that really make you thinking about how to continue.  The first level actually took me upwards of a half-hour because I was overlooking some obvious things that I should have triggered.

Okay, so the single-player game doesn't sound all that exciting, right?  What helps are the RPG-esque elements that are littered about.  Aside from Bomberman gaining temporary upgrades like the ones that increase his speed, the power of his bombs, and the number he can lay at once, he can gain different types of bombs.  There are Hurricane Bombs, Aqua Bombs, Ice Bombs, and Thunder Bombs.  You acquire the different types throughout the course of the game, and each one has unique, helpful abilities: the Aqua Bomb bursts into several water balls that chase enemies, and the Ice Bomb creates a tall mass of ice that takes out flying enemies, for starters.

There’s one more little layer embedded in the game that adds some depth: the Charaboms.  These are little guys that act sort of like Pokemon, helping you out with their abilities and leveling up constantly.  You can only have one Charabom active at any time, and any fruit you find will give it some experience – so you need to strategize in order to balance out your little guys.  For the most part, they help you reach previously inaccessible places; one Charabom lets you cross water; another jumps over high walls or ditches; yet another will let you glide through the air for a short time.  As they level up, they gain more abilities, like speed increases or the power to climb up waterfalls to find hidden areas.

So, while the single-player mode may seem a bit shallow at first, it actually has some depth to it.  Sure, it’s not magnificent – the camera is frustrating, the puzzles lack variety, and the challenge usually only lies in not blowing yourself up.  It is a worthy companion to the real blast you can have while playing Bomberman Jetters though – and that’s with the multiplayer mode.

It’s not perfect, either.  There are a sorry number of stages accompanying each different mode – in fact, the only real mode which has eight or so different levels is the standard “deathmatch.”  It’s not such a big deal, though, because the other modes are really inventive and fun.  There’s “Battle One-Two”, where players uncover switches and have to hit them (1-9) in the correct order without getting hit.  There’s a mode reminiscent of Super Smash Bros., where bomb blasts knock players into the air, and the goal is to blow the other guys out of the arena.  And finally there’s “Battle for Balloms,” my personal new favorite, where each player tries to collect a bunch of cute floaty guys and jump into one of the four holes that opens and closes in the stage.  The challenge is in the Balloms themselves – as you collect more, you grow increasingly slow; to make matters even more interesting, they simply follow you, single-file, like they’re in a parade - and a well-placed bomb from another player can blow them all away before you hop into one of the randomly-opening holes.

There are a number of options to mix things up even more.  You can turn on “Killer Shot” in some modes, where a meter will fill up as you drop more bombs – when it’s full, you can release a devastating attack.  Each characters attack is different, as well.  There’s also “Revenge,” which lets those players that kill themselves before the end of the match ride around in little cars on the edge of the stage, tossing bombs into the arena.  You even have the ability to make Revenge more exciting by having those players still active that get bonked on the head from a Revenge player’s bomb switch places with him or her.  Aside from these clever options, you can split into teams, create handicaps, toggle mini-games on and off, and so forth.

The production values in the game aren’t stunning, but they work just fine.  As mentioned earlier, the game has a cel-shaded look which works perfectly fine, especially considering the game’s anime ties.  The animation is mostly good; I would have appreciated some smoothing out of the jerkiness that appears while abruptly changing directions, however.  Overall, the graphics are fine.  The sound feels every “Bomberman-ish” as well, with cheery tunes that get in your head whether you like them or not.  My only real complaint is that some – or I should say most – of the voice acting is ridiculously bad.  Bomberman sounds like a ten year old girl for some reason, and many of the voice actors read their lines with hardly any emotion.  Perhaps this can be blamed on the game trying to imitate an English dub that is probably already bad; having not seen the show I’m not one to say whether or not the voices are faithful to the series – I do know that they annoyed me.

Once you put all the ingredients in a Shake-N’-Bake bag and give them a good rustling around, however, the game’s flaws really aren’t all that important.  One never expects a stunning single-player mode in a Bomberman game, but this one actually manages to be decent and isn’t just filler junk.  The multiplayer mode is still the heart of the game, and is easy for anyone to jump into while still giving the fans a lot to like.  To top it all off, the anime visuals are pretty cool (although the voices aren’t so hot) and help give the game a unique touch.  It doesn’t exactly revolutionize the Bomberman series, but it is a solid entry and is definitely worth picking up if you’re in need of a fun party game.

Gameplay: 8.0

It’s by no means stunning, but the little touches like different bomb types and Charaboms make the single-player mode more interesting.  There are plenty of fun ways to play the multiplayer game, too, so it doesn’t disappoint.

Graphics: 7.5

Animation is mostly good, but iffy in spots.  Everything else isn’t really beautiful either, but the cel-shaded visuals work very well and the character and world designs are pretty darned neat to boot.

Sound: 6.5

The music is still catchy and annoying, which is both good and bad.  The only really bad part about what’s blasting through your speakers are the ludicrous character voices that I absolutely couldn’t stand.

Concept: 7.0

The multiplayer mode is similar to past Bomberman titles, but has enough new modes and twists to warrant a purchase; the single-player mode feels somewhat generic but has a number of little additions that keep it interesting and different from other games out there.

Multiplayer: 9.5

In a word, it’s swimmingly excellent.  Okay, two words.

Overall: 8.0

The game, quite simply, is fun.  The single player mode isn’t terrible, and the multiplayer mode is quite a lot of fun.  There’s more than enough compelling features on this one disc to warrant a purchase, especially if you’re the kind of person who puts those extra few controllers to use as often as possible.