Hudson Soft’s mascot Bomberman is a lot like Nintendo’s Mario in the way that when you look over the past 15 – 20 years or so through the vast array of titles featuring the main character, it always goes back to what he did best that has the fans grinning again. The chubby plumber is heading to the Wii in his first major home console “left to right” platformer since Yoshi’s Island in the New Super Mario Bros. title later in the year, as you may already know. When you look at the big headed, slit-eyed Bomberman, you can also see with him that throughout his history he’s been in all sorts, from Baseball to 3D platform action, but no matter what else he gets put into, the single screen explosion fest always feels like home and suits him well.
For those who don’t know, Ultra is an all-singing, all-dancing version of the 360 Live one, which incorporates all the extra expansion packs, allowing for a 14 level piece of cartoon carnage. It is, in essence, a party game and always has been, with the only major difference this time being the opportunity to blow up people online rather than up to 8 people sitting in a room laughing, drinking fizzy juice and staying up until the sun rose again (or the SNES and Mega Drive era for those not old enough to remember).
For anyone who has been stuck in a leather jacket and bound in a padded cell, let me give you a brief idea of what you have to do. You are protagonist number 1, who must eliminate the other members of the battle arena with your bombs, which can be enhanced by additional collectibles as you play.
The game itself maintains a very similar layout to Bomberman titles of old. The single screen, bird’s eye view is back and the object is as simple as ever. It looks good enough, with a style that doesn’t stray too far from the original ideals, but manages to stay fresh enough to keep the doubters and new age soothsayers away. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t have the massive finesse of something like Fat Princess or ’Splosion Man on the Xbox, but it has a certain charm, which few will find hard to like. The explosions are as punchy as they need to be without looking like something that needs a mushroom cloud to look authentic.
There is most certainly a revamped, yet retro feel to everything involving the game, even the music has a mix of cheesy drums and C64 SID chip, which although fun and quirky, like most of the sound in the game, can begin to become increasingly annoying after a while. You may well feel yourself running for your iPod and just keeping one ear plugged with your earphone to at least tell your brain that it’s not all bad. Normally tunes don’t get so irritating, but due to the short round times and treading the same old ground often, this can safely claim the mute button all to itself.
Repeating yourself in a game can be one of the more negative things to say about them, but in the case of Ultra (and Live to be honest); it’s exactly what is needed. This was always going to be and has been a party game in origin, plain and simple. For all the 2 or 3 minutes per round you have, there is enough to keep you occupied and the strategy element is always there when it comes to working out just where and when to strike that killer blow.
It comes as a shame that one of those important feathers in the cap of goodness has fallen out and needs ruffled and placed back properly. I’m referring to the online mode and its apparent lack of stability. After trying for two evenings to try and get a decent game, I can safely say I’ve failed, as I only managed one game out of the 10 or so times I tried (and even at that is was EXTREMELY lag ridden and it died off after 30 seconds anyway). For a game that pretty much relies on this to bring about the classic gameplay that us older players know can be had is a bad thing indeed and unless it gets fixed in the next few weeks, it could well hurt it badly.
Being a gamer of many years it’s hard to look at something like Hudson Soft’s new take on an old friend and not feel a tad nostalgic about the whole thing, as you still feel an urge to get people round and go through those long sugar-rush powered sessions again with your mates. I know we live in a time where online is king and Call of Duty or Halo would hold more interest than anything seen on the PSN or XBLA, but the ability to have a gameplay mechanic that, although getting on a bit, can still keep a group of people interested for an evening has to be good, especially for £8.
You may well be able to fully customise Bomberman in many different outfits and costumes and shiny new heads to give him a bit of a facelift, but it’s really just a gimmick. Even so, the core gameplay element is still there, but the lack of consistent internet games really does let it down a lot. I’m lucky to have this on Xbox Live and when you get to play against other people online it can be an absolute joy, not to mention it makes time disappear like a politician’s reputation. As it stands, I cannot have it pass with flying colours until this is fixed as it holds it back from being as good as it could be, much like putting a limiter on a car engine in that you know it can be better, but the restrictions take away from the enjoyment slightly. It’s a shame because the rest of the game is still as polished as it ever was and Bomberman can still keep a room full of people happy for quite some time. Just don’t take it outside the comfort of your own home.
VideogameUK verdict: 7/10 (8/10 if they fix the net problems)
