A Review: Bomberman 64, N64 1997
Bomberman 64 is an action-adventure game for the Nintendo 64, developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo. A game with fully 3D graphics, it was the first game in the Bomberman series to use a 3D rendering engine. The game also received improved AI, updated controls, and a brand new 'Adventure Mode'. While this game never saw a release on the Wii's virtual console service, it was eventually released for the WiiU virtual console in 2017. Play is from the 3rd perspective and puts the player in the role of Bomberman as his planet comes under attack from the evil Altair and his space pirates. The player must then guide Bomberman through a series of worlds to stop his home planet from being turned into a zombie-like wasteland.
I enjoyed this game for the most part and would happily wile away lazy afternoons by booting this game up and messing around on one of the various worlds. It was only when I became an adult that I put some serious hours into beating it and I can honestly say that I enjoyed them. I really liked finding the hidden areas and advancing through the different biomes of each world. The play was simple to get into, and I liked that you didn't need to be a master of the controls to enjoy yourself. It was nice how simple it was to control Bomberman, and I felt that this fact really opened up the game to more casual gamers. I also found that this game was fairly forgiving, at least until you reached the end of world bosses. Those were a real challenge, and I felt a true sense of accomplishment when I finally managed to best them. The worlds were individual and unique in their own way, with set themes and looks for each. I loved the music in this game and still occasionally listen to the soundtrack and reminisce. The gameplay was stable, and I never encountered any issues with frame rates or unexpected behaviours. I did dislike that Bomberman had no health as such and that one hit would often be enough to kill him, unless you managed to find a pink heart or two, but they were rare at times. Also, I found that the camera got in my way a little too often, or that it wouldn't move at all and would stop you from seeing where you were going. This was a problem, as the directional controls changed depending on which way you were looking, and if you didn't pay enough attention, you'd easily fall off the world or end up dead. That was a point of frustration for me more than once, and it somewhat spoiled my experiences with this game.
Visually, this game wasn't the best, and it had a lot of rather basic, repeating tile textures going on. Some areas looked odd too, as there was little to no blending between differing textures, and you could see the end of one and the start of another. I also found that the creatures weren't the best-looking, and some of them were just glorified squares. I did like the environmental themes for each world, though, and found that everything sort of fit those themes. Bomberman was cute and pretty well modelled, though I did notice that some parts of him were 2D sprites and they stood out a little too much. The bosses were well drawn, I thought, and looked pretty good. Their animations were also really tidy and smooth. Movement and usage animations were also smooth, and Bomberman never seemed to stutter or lag when I played.
Overall, I liked Bomberman 64 (mostly) and had fun going through the various stages and worlds. I will say that it was the janky camera and difficulty spikes that hurt this game's score. Though I did have fun, I'm not blind to the flaws that this game came with.
6/10 – Good fun!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
I enjoyed this game for the most part and would happily wile away lazy afternoons by booting this game up and messing around on one of the various worlds. It was only when I became an adult that I put some serious hours into beating it and I can honestly say that I enjoyed them. I really liked finding the hidden areas and advancing through the different biomes of each world. The play was simple to get into, and I liked that you didn't need to be a master of the controls to enjoy yourself. It was nice how simple it was to control Bomberman, and I felt that this fact really opened up the game to more casual gamers. I also found that this game was fairly forgiving, at least until you reached the end of world bosses. Those were a real challenge, and I felt a true sense of accomplishment when I finally managed to best them. The worlds were individual and unique in their own way, with set themes and looks for each. I loved the music in this game and still occasionally listen to the soundtrack and reminisce. The gameplay was stable, and I never encountered any issues with frame rates or unexpected behaviours. I did dislike that Bomberman had no health as such and that one hit would often be enough to kill him, unless you managed to find a pink heart or two, but they were rare at times. Also, I found that the camera got in my way a little too often, or that it wouldn't move at all and would stop you from seeing where you were going. This was a problem, as the directional controls changed depending on which way you were looking, and if you didn't pay enough attention, you'd easily fall off the world or end up dead. That was a point of frustration for me more than once, and it somewhat spoiled my experiences with this game.
Visually, this game wasn't the best, and it had a lot of rather basic, repeating tile textures going on. Some areas looked odd too, as there was little to no blending between differing textures, and you could see the end of one and the start of another. I also found that the creatures weren't the best-looking, and some of them were just glorified squares. I did like the environmental themes for each world, though, and found that everything sort of fit those themes. Bomberman was cute and pretty well modelled, though I did notice that some parts of him were 2D sprites and they stood out a little too much. The bosses were well drawn, I thought, and looked pretty good. Their animations were also really tidy and smooth. Movement and usage animations were also smooth, and Bomberman never seemed to stutter or lag when I played.
Overall, I liked Bomberman 64 (mostly) and had fun going through the various stages and worlds. I will say that it was the janky camera and difficulty spikes that hurt this game's score. Though I did have fun, I'm not blind to the flaws that this game came with.
6/10 – Good fun!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
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