noname2200 on 03 July 2009
Gnizmo's in-depth reviews:
Bomberman Blast
The game is a fairly standard iteration of Bomberman with a few notable differences. If you are a fan of the series then you probably know exactly what to expect with this game and will not be disapointed. While the game does fiddle with the base formula, it never deviates too far away from the core experience of the Bomberman franchise. For those of you who are new it revolves around planting bombs to blow up blocks allowing you to gather power-ups. Ultimately you are attempting to trap your rivals behind one of your bombs and watch it explode on them. They have added a number of interesing variations on the base versus mode to keep veterans entertained, but if none of them tickle your fancy there is still the classic mode available. Still the game strays from the formula in a number of ways that are notable.
The most notable difference is that the game is strictly multi-player. While this does little to hurt the over-all experience of a bomberman title, I feel it is something that should be put out there immediately. The game supports both on-line and off-line multiplayer with up to 8 players per match in either mode. Using four Wiimotes and 4 Gamecube controllers allows you to get a fun, if not slightly hectic experience for the system locally. You can also leave the extra slots empty or fill them with AI controlled characters should you find yourself unable to enjoy the game with too few people.
Sadly the 8 player mechanics do not work so well this time around. It worked extremely well in the DS version due to both screens having a full map and allowing plenty of breathing room for the players. With 8 players on a standard map though you tend to start bumping into each other extremely early on. This leads to either avery short match due to people getting too each other very quickly, or a never ending match because all the blocks were destroyed before all the players could attack each other. The ability to limit the number of players helps tremendously though, so you can simply knock the player count down to a reasonable level.
The online works fairly well over-all. The match-making service is fairly quick if there are enough people, and will start early rather than waiting for a full boat and add more players to later rounds as it becomes needed. There is little lag, but there is still the curse of friend's codes should you want to play with people you know. There is nothing that especially stands out as great about the service, but there is also no real deficit in it either. All and all it is a solidonline experience.
If you are a fan of the series the game is definitely worth the $10 it costs to pick it up. For new comers it is a good and cheap way to try out a classic franchise that has an iteration on every video game system since the SNES, and significantly cheaper than many of those versions making it ideal as a first try. If you have never enjoyed the series though Bomberman Blast will probably not do anything to pull you in.
Mega Man 9
This game is hard. That is a fact that cannot be stressed enough. The game design takes a page from the NES era play book and gives you a game that will take you hours to beat simply because you have not yet memorized the patterns to the enemies. You will die a lot. You will find yourself frustrated on many levels, and wondering if the level designers secretly hate gamers. It is also one of the most fun games I have played in the last few years.
Mega Man 9 is a game designed to test your patience. Both in how long it will take you to get fed up and quit a level, and in the fact that blindly rushing through will get you killed very quickly. Taking the time to look around and see where enemies spawn, or where how long it takes a platform to disapear will make the levels much easier to beat. That is not to say it will be easy though. Learning the timing is far simpler than being able to act on it.
The levels themselves can be quite fun to complete once you start learning them. The tricks and abilities you must use to navigate the way to the boss fight continuously challenges without getting overly repetetive. While running through the parts of the level over and over to learn that new tricky sequence mid-way through the level can get a bit trying, the overall reward for beating the stage is well worth the effort put in. The game will constantly have you thinking of the best ways to use various weapons and abilities to try and get around the absolutely insane challenges some of the levels have. The game does an excellent job of striking a balance between extremely challenging and stupidly frustrating.
The boss fights this time around were done with the same loving disdain that the levels were designed with. If you have the bosses weakness you should be able to quickly kill him/her with very little difficulty. If you are missing the weapon of choice though you will have to quickly memorize the patterns to the bosses attacks in order to have any chance at victory. The weapons of choice are fairly easy to discern with a bit of thought, but sometimes it can be less than obvious. On a few rare occasions I found it easier to use a different weapon than the one the boss was supposed to be weak to, but it is hard to fault the game too much for that.
Ultimately this game plays a lot to nostalgia. Mega Man 9 is definitely a solid game that stands on its own, but new gamers might not be able to appreciate that at first. Unless you are used to the harsh brutality that was so common place in the days the franchise started there will be a rough period of adjustment. To those that remember those days fondly it will just be a period of time where you question when you started to suck so badly at video games. If you are patient, or are looking for a real challenge in a game this is a must buy. If you cannot stand the thought of running through a level several times in order to learn the timing of jumps, enemies, and ultimately a few lives on the boss then you might want to pass on it.
