Bomberman Jetters reviewed

So I mentioned in my Bomberman Generation may or may not been based off of a Bomberman anime. I can now say that, without a shadow of a doubt, that Bomberman Jetters is based off of a Bomberman anime. I can also say that this game is a horrible slap-to-the-face to the Bomberman franchise, to the fans of the Bomberman franchise and to good old-fashioned video-game conventions. So let's dig in with the atrocity that is called Bomberman Jetters.

Some time after you whooped the HIGE HIGE Bandits from Bomberman Generation, they have come back for revenge! And this time, the HIGE HIGE Bandits will leave no prisoners or survivors because they have gotten this built this huge comet/ship that will crash into Planet Bomber, Bomberman's home planet, and destroy it! So it's up to Bomberman to fly up to this comet/ship and blow up the hell out of it. And this time, Max is going to get off his butt and help you this time.

Does the plot make you want to play this game to entertain you bomb lust? Well let's see what the game play has to say about that. This game may be one of the worst offenders of Guide Dang It, a case where you have to go to a guide of some kind to figure out what to do. I mentioned this happening in Bomberman 64 but that was only to get all the gold cards, not to advance the plot or kill bosses. That's what Jetters makes you do cause most of the time you're stuck, there's a non-intuitive solution to it all. Being stuck for half-an-hour at a level is not fun! Trying to kill the final boss because you have to wait for it to do a specific attack and then attack it in a specific way is not fun!

Then there's Max, you remember him from Generation where he just helped you whenever he felt like it? You wish he helped you whenever he felt like it cause he actually does something. Alright, you can switch between Bomberman and Max at will which is good. Max also has a pretty awesome Spirit Bomb which wipes out all enemies on the screen. So what's the problem? He's not given anything to do besides destroying some steel wall that shows up once a world. So you ask why can't you be Max all the time...well that's cause you can't use the Charaboms, those animals that make traversing the world possible. There's no incentive to use Max all the time and, by all accounts, he's pretty useless besides destroying steel walls.

The graphics attempt to be cel-shaded like Generation but combined with the anime sensibilities of the....well, anime. It's not that it's a bad idea, it's just poorly executed. All the colors are washed-out, the details are flat and nothing really pops out. The worst thing is that the game decides to give Bomberman eyes, I mean real eyes that includes the white in the eyes! This is kinda creepy especially after the standard look of Bomberman eyes was always two vertical lines! The real eyes just makes things a bit too real and goes way into Uncanny Valley. Just way too creepy for my tastes.

Simply put, this game is garbage. The cameras are garbage. The voice work is garbage. The graphics are garbage. The game play is garbage. The characters are garbage. The music is garbage. That mini game that's a throw back to the old days of Bomberman is garbage. The Charaboms are garbage. The use of Max in the game is garbage. I'm pretty sure once you get past the fact that there's a Bomberman anime, the anime itself is garbage. The dubbing work on the anime scenes is garbage. Any people who like this game are garbage. This, without a doubt, the worst game I've played in recent memory, besides Bebe's Kids. The only reason I gave it a 2 instead of a 1 is that I didn't wish I was dead while playing it.

2/10

Bomberman Generation Reviewed

I have a tiny confession to make...I am not that a big fan of the Bomberman games. The NES game was bland, repetitive and very boring. The SNES games are a bit better, they have color and brightness to it...just not the fun. Now Bomberman 64 was a decent game even though getting a 100% completion was a horrible, horrible case of Guide Dang It. But Bomberman Hero, the second game for the Nintendo 64 was pretty awesome...even though I just rented it and never beat it, the memories still remain. Now how does Bomberman Generation, the first game for the Gamecube, stack up? Let's find out.

So the game's stories begins with some Bomb Elements that are the source of GREAT POWER that could be used for great good.....or great EVIL. But the spaceship that old Professor Ein used to transport the Bomb Elements was shot down and the Elements scattered all around the Planet Tentacalls waiting to be gathered by Bomberman's arch enemies, the Hige Hige Bandits. So Professor Ein has Bomberman go to the Tentacalls, bomb the living hell out of the Hige Hige Bandits and get those Bomb Elements back. And then there's this guy called Max who helps you whenever he feels like it....he's useless and a waste in the game.

The game plays like any other 3-D Bomberman game. You run around, bomb things and get power ups to increase your speed, bombs you can drop and the power of your bomb blasts. There is a little twist that you can get these Pokemon things called Charaboms that help you out by many things...like remote-detonated bombs, increased distance or remote-controlled bombs among other things. The main problem with the game is that it takes FAR too long for it too actually be fun and that's only when you get the remote-detonated bombs. Until then you're at the mercy of the bomb's natural life span and just stunning the enemies doesn't work cause they're only out of it for a couple seconds and the bombs take at least five seconds to explode which is unacceptable. Thankfully, when you the remote-detonated bombs things get fun real fast.

Bomberman Generation's graphics were the first Gamecube game to use cel-shaded graphics similar to Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The result for Bomberman is that it looks like a hyper-anime and considering that there is or was, whatever the case may be, a Bomberman anime out there so this may be based off of it. I know that Bomberman Jetters(which will be the next Bomberman game I'll review) was based off the anime. But the graphics here are fun in a nice over-the-top way that compliment the world of Bomberman.

A small but noticeable flaw in this is that most of the voice-acting is weak. The voice you hear most of the time is Professor Ein's and he's painfully average. Of course the things he has to say painfully obvious things like telling to go forward, destroy something or did you get these things yet. And he just won't shut up about it...you will come to dread when your communicator watch comes on. Most of the other voices are bland and forgettable but a couple of bosses are over-the-top enough to match the look of the game which is nice. Then there's the biggest waste of the game, Max. He has a cool voice, his musical cue sounds like the music I hear whenever I see Antonio Banderas(What? Can't I hear sexy latino music when I see Antonio Banderas without being gay?) but all he does is help you out on major boss battles whenever he feels like it and that's it...sigh.

So all in all, this game isn't so bad even if it doesn't reach the heights of Bomberman 64 or Bomberman: Hero. It looks great and more often than not it is pretty fun to play with little details that are pleasing to the eye. It's just takes unforgivably long to get going, they waste a potentially awesome character with Max and the voice-acting is weak. You can give this one a go, you might like it.

6/10