Super Bomberman R Review

Super Bomberman R

Release: March 3, 2017
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Genre: Action, Retro, Switch Reviews
PEGI: 10+
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When Bomberman was announced I was fairly excited, but when I saw the initial purchase price, I quickly stepped back. Full retail price for Bomberman? Although I was skeptical that a Bomberman title could fetch that type of financial commitment, I’ve changed my tune slightly while playing through it. If you plan on being very social with your Nintendo Switch, Bomberman is probably the title you will currently want to invest in!

Single Player and Cooperative Play

Bomberman is loads of fun when playing with a friend. As you battle through the various worlds, you will encounter increasingly more difficult levels, monsters, and bosses. The story is incredibly cheesey, and only exists as the catalyst for the actual game play. Without the story, this mode would play exactly the same. The characters have no depth, and the enemies you fight don’t ever leave a lasting impression.

That being said, if you are playing Bomberman it’s because you want to blow stuff up, not because you want a story. This story mode will offer players 50 levels to play through, and while that might not seem like a lot, the difficult curve spikes considerably, making 50 levels seem like a lot. Every 9th and 10th stage of each world is a battle against that worlds boss.

To that end, Bomberman works really well. When played cooperatively, you have the benefit of another ally helping you out, but obviously the chaotic nature of the game itself is doubled. Two players, two bomb dropping idiots. What do you expect?

I’ve played this mode – as well as the multiplayer mode – both in tabletop mode and TV mode, and I can firmly say that no one should EVER play this game anywhere but on a TV. Trying to clear levels while playing in TV mode with a friend is hard enough, but attempting to do it with an ally is nearly impossible. The screen size just doesn’t lend itself to proper strategic planning, and with everything seemingly miniaturized to fit on the screen, a few bombs going off at once can instantly disorient you.

Playing alone, however, is a completely different experience. I loved the up-close nature of Bomberman when I could hole the screen up to my face in handheld mode. Unlike on a TV, I found that I could easily focus on my character and make the moves I needed to make. So, as a quick summary, Bomberman is fine in Handheld or Tabletop mode when playing alone, but disastrous when playing with others.

Multiplayer

Ultimately, playing with others is where you will see the longevity in this title. As a single player experience, Super Bomberman R is not worth the 50 dollars Konami is asking for, but if you plan to take this experience online or to a party, I think the price can be justified. Without doing a ton of work in other modes, 8 maps will be available in competitive multiplayer, and these maps are varied enough to entice replayability.

Whether locally with 4 players, or online with 8, the experience, for the most part, was good. I found I was having a lot more fun with friends locally as the online Multiplayer seemed to suffer from a number of hiccups that I never experience playing locally. Even without 4 friends, you can add some fairly competitive bots to each round to make it feel like a 4 player experience.

What makes Bomberman a great party game is that the concept is simple. You walk around and drop bombs. It might be difficult to master, and those that have played significant amounts of Bomberman will have a sizeable advantage, but the accessibility is huge, and again, will make your initial purchase worth it for when guests are over.

You can find some amazing Super Bomberman R videos by our good friend Abdallah over on you YouTube channel. We posted his first let’s play below!

We will have a subsequent article detailing more of the online multiplayer, the mode we have played the least to date. Overall, we are fairly impressed with Bomberman. We think it could be better, and the online problems we encountered do need to be fixed, but overall it is a fund experience.

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