Bomberman for the PSP delivers the familiar action focused gameplay of the original series with a few marginal changes that long-time fans will appreciate. Unlike the lackluster Bomberman Act Zero, Bomberman adheres to its deep roots and delivers a fun and familiar game experience.
In this portable Bomberman game our explosive antagonist once again finds himself saving worlds from the evil Professor Bagular, who has surrounded ten planets with a mysterious brown fog. It's up to Bomberman to beat ten levels in each world including his home planet and defeating his old time nemesis.
As we mentioned there is a lot of familiar gameplay in Bomberman PSP with a a slight variation that we'll get to in a minute. There are ten stages per world and ten worlds to complete for a total of 100 regular game stages in all. After completing the main game, you can unlock a more traditional original Bomberman experience and a whole lot of gameplay for your gaming dollar (50 additional levels for single player play).
It's the usual suspects and the usual modus operandi as you tackle mazes filled with hard and soft blocks: you fight the baddies on each level by using a variety of potent bombs while avoiding being killed yourself. You have to kill all these bad guys and then find the exit before time runs out - it's just that simple. The worlds start out pretty simple but as the game progresses things get a little more difficult and require some quick wits and strategic thinking. You'll do this while blowing up blocks to clear paths and unearthing additional bombs and power-ups to make things easier. There's a lot of interesting power-ups to choose in Bomberman (15 total items you can pick up including different bomb types) from speed boosts to special glasses that reveal where all the power-ups are - handy for when you want to find the most explosive and dangerous bombs in short order.
The only cumbersome part of the PSP Bomberman game is the selection screen from items. You'll have to scroll through it in real-time during gameplay. Anyone that has played the frantic and arcade Bomberman games knows that having to scroll through a list while avoiding crazy critters and bomb blasts could prove to be difficult. Difficult, yes - but not impossible.
The goal of each stage is to destroy all the enemies and find the hidden exit before time runs out. Most of the levels in the game give you three minutes in which to kill all the enemies and make your escape. However, there are items you can get to extend that time. If you fail to complete the stage within the time limit in the story mode, enemies will begin pouring out of the exit. In battle mode, blocks will begin falling from above, and if you don't kill your enemies quickly, you'll end up getting crushed. In the single-player game you have to face a variety of enemies, such as big, lumbering golems that take several bombs to kill, fast-moving yellow things that are difficult to trap, and bomb-laying, well, bombs. There are also bosses to contend with, such as a giant crab or a dragon.
Bomberman also offers pretty solid multiplayer. Using either the game sharing mode or multiple UMD's players can engage in some fun and explosive Bomberman action. The multiplayer battle mode lets up to four players battle and is highly customizable. You can even add AI controlled players to fill out the game if you can't find enough real players to join in and you can also adjust other variables like the time limit, items and more. Multiplayer is pretty solid, though the controls are a little slower than in the single-player mode. Still the multiplayer mode is a nice addition to the solid single-player game.
It's really hard not to recommend Bomberman PSP to fans of the 20+ year old series or for anyone looking for a decent modular gaming experience on the go. Bomberman looks and plays great on the PSP and the portable nature of the system makes it a decent game to pick up and play by yourself or with friends. If you love Bomberman buy this game and start enjoying it today.
