Bomberman ULTRA: review

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Bomberman ULTRA

  • Format: PS3
  • Unleashed: Out Now
  • Publisher: Hudson Soft
  • Developer: Hudson Soft
  • Players: 1-8 (online), 1-4(local)
  • Price: £7.99
Bomberman ULTRA! What does that say to you? The best Bomberman yet? Maybe everything every Bomberman game has ever had shoved into one, small space? Don’t bother, these questions are rhetorical and we probably won’t be able to hear you from where you are anyway! Bomberman’s been on the go now for what seems like an ice-age, and doesn’t seem to have aged a bit in the process, design or game-play wise! There have been quite a few versions hitting the next-gen machines lately and this one is a neat little package. Weighing in at £7.99 on the PSN, this seems to have a fair amount of tailoring options to keep it fresh to those who are more than familiar to the Bomberman series. Having said that, newcomers might just skip past the ‘original’ settings and find more fun in the other modes. The ‘Zombie’ mode is a nice little spin on the original Bomberman game-play whereby instead of just knocking players out of the game via sudden fiery death, the idea is to ‘paint’ as many tiles on the arena floor as possible before the timer hits zero. Trying to kill other players in this mode will only result in them losing their collected power-ups, while this is a set-back, this does not mean game over and can lead to a fairly tense fight for the crown of glory in the last few seconds. Also, if you’re really vindictive, you can switch on the ‘revenge’ option and blast people from the side-lines if they were particularly unfair to you in other matches

Bombastic

Other tailoring of the game options are for Bomberman himself, where a whole bunch of costumes can be unlocked through progression of the game. These range from silly hats and faces, to entire outfits. Want a pirate Bomerman? They’ve got one. Noble King, Mad Scientist, Ballerina, Roman Guard, are all but a few of the available suits to unlock. While these are purely an aesthetic for prettiness, this could be more useful when there are eight of you on-screen fighting for supremacy. Although this version is just more of the same with bells and whistles attached, Bomberman’s game-play remains just as addictive and familiar as it was in four score and ten (or whenever it was first made) and does what it says on the tin. As a PSN edition though, the graphics could have been polished up a little more than what we see here; graphics are crisp, clear and retain some charm, but could have done with just a little more love. If you’re short on real-life friends (or more likely, control pads) you can take your bombing skills online and challenge others (up to seven) from around the world too. Hooking up to an online match is quick and simple, and even if you only want a shot-glass sized splash of bombing, the game can happily oblige. Longer, more pro-level affairs can be organised as well, doing a tournament with friends on your list to see who comes out on top takes almost the same amount of time to organise as a quick match.

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The bottom line is this though: if you’ve got other versions of this sitting around your house or you’ve done Bomberman till you’re ill-in-the-face, you might want to re-think shelling out nearly a tenner to have it on your PS3. Although if you’re a Bomberman veteran and want to blow up perfect strangers or even younger siblings and friends, then this might just be the all round family fun you’ve been looking for.

3/5


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Written by R.Furie

Ross has been playing games since he can remember and has had games machines around him all his life. He's what we now refer to as "Old Skool" because he grew up playing games with a hand carved wooden joystick on a TV forged from rope and stone. Nourished on a diet of Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Joust, Gauntlet, Bomber Jack and other various wholesome arcades he has grown to become a versatile and open minded gamer. Favouring the style of open-world games he's sure VR can't be far away, and looks forward to attaching himself to a colostomy bag and slipping into a deep VR coma so he need never have to deal with real life again.

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