Bomberman/Dynablaster/Atomic Punk (ARC, 1991)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7 Control-7.5 Challenge-8* Story-4
Level Design-7 Frustration-8* Fun-7.5/7* Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Single player
+
4-player co-op
Several levels of upgrades (speed, blast size, number of bombs you can place at once)
Remote controlled bombs power up
Temporary invincibility power up
Some large sprites
Some good bosses like the bouncing star that splits into smaller and smaller stars and the final boss)
Expressive sprites
Good art direction overall
Pretty satisfying sfx
Some interesting enemies (dragon that can trigger bombs, teleporters, enemies that hide in blocks)
Difficulty options (easy-very hard)
+/-
Pretty steep difficulty curve
Some items are just for points (leads to 1-ups?)
Only single screen levels
Killathon (kill all enemies in a level to progress)
Levels end immediately when you've killed all enemies so any items left are missed
-
No vs. mode
Upgrades don't carry over between levels in SP (creates difficulty spikes at the beginning of levels)
Some control issues (the auto-adjusting when moving into a corner is too loose and makes you move sideways even when hitting two blocks of wall or one block head-on)
Pretty repetitive
No power ups that let you move through or kick your bombs
Somewhat basic FM for the music
Some annoying enemies (world 4's temporarily invincible enemies)
Only 6 worlds
Not much creativity in terms of the level design (enemy design is good though)
Notes:
-Apparently there is a 4-player vs. battle mode in the JP ver. only (also lets you play against CPU/AI opponents)
Comment:
I mistook this Bomberman for Bomberman World, which has a vs. mode. This is a good, not quite great take on the formula with some interesting enemy design and there is the 4-player co-op which should provide some chaotic fun. I tend to get bored with SP Bomberman but this one is a bit shorter than usual and didn't really overstay it's welcome.
Level Design-7 Frustration-8* Fun-7.5/7* Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Single player
+
4-player co-op
Several levels of upgrades (speed, blast size, number of bombs you can place at once)
Remote controlled bombs power up
Temporary invincibility power up
Some large sprites
Some good bosses like the bouncing star that splits into smaller and smaller stars and the final boss)
Expressive sprites
Good art direction overall
Pretty satisfying sfx
Some interesting enemies (dragon that can trigger bombs, teleporters, enemies that hide in blocks)
Difficulty options (easy-very hard)
+/-
Pretty steep difficulty curve
Some items are just for points (leads to 1-ups?)
Only single screen levels
Killathon (kill all enemies in a level to progress)
Levels end immediately when you've killed all enemies so any items left are missed
-
No vs. mode
Upgrades don't carry over between levels in SP (creates difficulty spikes at the beginning of levels)
Some control issues (the auto-adjusting when moving into a corner is too loose and makes you move sideways even when hitting two blocks of wall or one block head-on)
Pretty repetitive
No power ups that let you move through or kick your bombs
Somewhat basic FM for the music
Some annoying enemies (world 4's temporarily invincible enemies)
Only 6 worlds
Not much creativity in terms of the level design (enemy design is good though)
Notes:
-Apparently there is a 4-player vs. battle mode in the JP ver. only (also lets you play against CPU/AI opponents)
Comment:
I mistook this Bomberman for Bomberman World, which has a vs. mode. This is a good, not quite great take on the formula with some interesting enemy design and there is the 4-player co-op which should provide some chaotic fun. I tend to get bored with SP Bomberman but this one is a bit shorter than usual and didn't really overstay it's welcome.