Bomberman Tournament

GBA review by Philip Morton, published on Sunday 24th August 2003

Ahh, Bomberman. That age-old franchise where the little guy plants a bomb and hides round a corner until the explosives incapacitate his opponents. Hmm…sounds a little awkward in light of recent events, adoesn’t it? Controversial as it may be seen, the Bomberman series is here to stay and the latest instalment is on Nintendo’s pint-sized console, the Gameboy Advance.

If you don’t know what Bomberman’s all about, let me explain. You and several opponents are placed in an arena and the last one standing wins. Each player can drop bombs in the arena, and if you’re hit by a blast, you die. That’s basically it. The simplicity is what makes Bomberman what it is - anyone can grasp the concept within minutes and frantic multiplayer action often ensues.

Some spice to the formula with a range of powerups, the ability to get revenge on opponents, multiple arenas and oddly enough, fishing. Powerups range from speed increases to blast radius enhancers. There are also a few less desirable ones, which have negative effects on your character. If you die, you’ll spawn on the edge of the arena, allowing you to throw bombs in front of anyone left. This gives you something to do instead of having to wait for the game to finish. Each of the different arenas have their own little effects on gameplay, such as conveyer belts and blast intensifiers. And then there’s fishing, but no carp here - the winner of each round fishes for powerups which they can use next round.

Bomberman Tournament is best played in Battle mode with three others using a link cable. Once you’ve amassed the necessary hardware, there’s nothing better than teaming up on a mate blocking him into a corner, before turning on those who helped you, winning the match. Of course if you don’t have three mates available, then you can always face off against A.I. opponents. They’re surprisingly good as well, even on the ‘Easy’ setting. There’s a range of other options as well and multiple arenas which should keep you playing for a while.

The latest instalment has more than just arena fighting though. In addition to Battle mode - which is the basic multiplayer component - there’s Quest mode. This is where Bomberman gets a plot; someone called Max has gone missing on another planet and you’re off to save him. Quest mode is like an RPG, but with the Bomberman mechanics laid over it. You run around, bowing up violent trees, random coloured balls and a range of other oddities. It’s essentially like Pokemon with bombs, although sadly not as cool as it sounds. There’s more fun to be had in battle mode, as Quest is slower paced. However, you may wish to have a try at it purely because of the variety it provides.

Graphically, Bomberman Tournament is very smooth, with vivid colour everywhere. The characters are cute and the numerous animations are sleek. There’s plenty of variety in Battle mode, but slightly lacking in Quest. The camera angles are good and there’s no slowdown or lag in any of the single or multiplayer modes. All in all, the visuals are perfectly adequate, although nothing special.

Like any GBA game, the sound isn’t exactly spectacular. Menu bleeps and ‘music’ are generally annoying, while the in-game audio sounds like it’s been ripped straight from Super Mario Bros. 6: Yet Another Excuse Not To Make An Original Game. The hardware isn’t really up to producing the high quality, but the developers should have tried better on this one. It looks like I’ll continue to play my GBA with the volume down.

The lifespan of Bomberman Tournament really depends on whether you’re able to play multiplayer frequently. Without that, you’ve only got the choice of singleplayer Battle mode and Quest, both of which will become old far too quickly.
The gameplay and graphics are solid, but sadly Bomberman Tournament is let down by its audio and replay value.

Admittedly, sound isn’t that important, but the developers really should have given us more to do. If you’ve got friends with GBAs and a link cable, then it’s well worth looking into, if not, then I’d only recommended it if you can get it cheap. Bomberman Tournament had a lot of potential, but it’s let down by a lack of modes and attention to detail.