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REview: SUPER bomberman R (NINTENDO SWITCH)

13/3/2017

22 Comments

 
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Super Bomberman was a staple of the Digitiser office, back in the day. Heck, it remains one of my all-time favourite multiplayer games, and still holds up in the way that all great ideas do.

In the unlikely event that you know nothing of Bomberman, it's basically Pac-Man with bombs. Sort of. In a maze viewed from above, you have to drop bombs to first destroy the blocks which stand in your path - as other players (or, in single player mode, monsters) do the same from the opposite corner.

​The ultimate aim is to trap your opponents with your bombs, or hope they stumble into the path of your blast. There are power-ups along the way, obviously, but this is the joyously simple conceit at the core of the Bomberman series. 

It's a pure, flawless, concept, but since the four-player Super Bomberman - released 23 years ago!  - refined the idea into something unequalled and immaculate, the franchise has flailed in its attempts to build upon the original premise.

It's a problem that Tetris has similarly struggled with; how do you make a franchise out of a game that was already perfect, because it was so simple? Would glueing a digital watch to a daffodil, or putting headlights on a narwhal, make them better? What about nailing a frond to a harp, or scrawling the word "Gladys" on a wasp? 

Exactly. Some things simply emerge already perfect.
THE THREE (ONE) R
Super Bomberman R - the R stands for Robert Raddington - is a return to basics, and serves as a reintroduction to what made the original so great.

Commendably - at least, as far as the multiplayer mode goes - it strips away many of the bells and parps which the series has added in the 24 years since Super Bomberman. 

In fact, the differences between the two are largely cosmetic - R has fancier graphics, and a slight, isometric, viewpoint. Plus, it boasts a surprisingly robust single-player campaign - with some impressive bosses - and online play. The latter has come in for some stick, with lag issues apparently requiring the release of a patch.

I can't comment, as I didn't even bother with it, but we know by now that opinions on the Internet are by and large trustworthy, and rarely informed by histrionics or bitter attempts at relevance.

Frankly, Bomberman, for me, has to be played in local multiplayer - and in that sense, this is where Rrrrrrr excels. Indeed, you can play with up to eight people, if you know enough other Switch owners. 

​It's frustrating that many of the maps have to be purchased via in-game currency, but it's a faff worth faffing with. It's every bit as frantic, entertaining, and profanity-provoking as it always was. 
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THE PRICE IS WRONG
I rarely consider the price of games when reviewing them. It's therefore a little ironic that I'm going to do so here, because Bomberman R - in the interests of full transparency - is one of the few games I've reviewed on Digitiser2000 for which I received a free review copy.

Admittedly, I had also pre-ordered it - and forgotten to cancel that pre-order - so it remains a consideration for me.

You, see, Bomberman R is being sold as a full-price game, in a launch line-up which has but a handful of games full stop. How do you quantify the monetary worth of something? I've had a lot of fun with Super Bomberman R, and yet... somehow it still doesn't feel like it should be a fifty quid game.

It's a feeling which is difficult to shift, not least in the harsh light cast by Breath of the Wild - which offers SO much for its asking price. However, DVDs and cinema tickets aren't bought on a sliding scale, depending on how many special effects are in the movie, so why should games be different?

​Well, because games a) Aren't quite as finite as a two-hour movie, and b) Have more of a potential financial outlay in the first place.

When it drops to a more reasonable price - as it has inevitably already begun to do, if you care to shop around - then Super Bomberman R will become a worthwhile purchase. At the moment, though, it feels as if it's being asked to step up and be a Triple-A title, when it's just too old-school, too slight and simple (in the best way, admittedly) to shoulder such a responsibility. 

I suspect that had there been a couple more Triple-A games in the Switch line-up then Super Bomberman R might've been priced differently.

​On the plus side, I doubt it'll give you a yeast infection.

SUMMARY: A classic game, refreshingly untampered with - but far, far too pricey.
​SCORE: £25 out of £49.99.
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
REVIEW: 1-2-SWITCH (NINTENDO SWITCH)
​
REVIEW: SNIPPERCLIPS (NINTENDO SWITCH) 
REVIEW: NINTENDO SWITCH

22 Comments
Spiney O'Sullivan
13/3/2017 10:17:39 am

Getting the chance to play Super Bomberman R was the first first time I really "got" the Switch. Proper couch-based multiplayer taken anywhere is completely fantastic.

That said, it did remind me just how small the screen is, and £50 for Bomberman in this day and age is simply u justifiable.

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Geebs
13/3/2017 10:39:42 am

Terrible, terrible grammar. Should either be "Super BomberMEN R" or "Super Bomberman S"

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Waynan The Barbarian
13/3/2017 11:44:20 am

I sold it two days after purchase. Such a disappointing game. Very little content for the asking price.

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Orless
13/3/2017 11:44:33 am

I too pre-ordered and forgot to cancel. £50 is scandalous.

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Nick
13/3/2017 11:59:27 am

All Bomberman does is remind me how few friends I have. 8 person multiplayer indeed.

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Steve
13/3/2017 12:18:30 pm

The new Micro Machines - a game with almost exactly the same audience appeal - is retailing at £20. There is no reason Bomberman should be asking for more

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Twirl
13/3/2017 12:19:07 pm

Got to play this multiplayer the other night. Big fan of Bomberman since back in the SNES days (1 and 2 in particular were very good), with Bomberman Generations on GameCube being the multiplayer highlight of the series. Bomberman R is a weaker entry in the series. Annoying camera bobbing for some reason and it played with a very low frame rate for such a modern console--the SNES performed better! More than 4 players (maybe 5) and it just gets too busy and less fun, so 8 people is just overkill. 4 has always been the optimum number of players on the map. There aren't many items pickups on a map either which makes it feel a bit boring. And for £50! Only early adopter suckers seem willing to pay that kind of cash for something this second rate. Bit of a disappointment really, which is a shame. Fitting for the generally mediocre Switch platform though based on my experience relative to past Nintendo offerings. I only wish they'd had a bomberman version on Wii U.

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KANGAROOS OR GO HOME
13/3/2017 12:50:51 pm

BEST MULTIPLAYER BOMBERMAN IS MEGABOMBERMAN

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Waynan The Barbarian
13/3/2017 01:28:06 pm

This ^

Chris Wyatt
13/3/2017 07:38:26 pm

Better than Atomic Bomberman?!?

As for Bomberman R; I think I will either wait for the price to go down on this one, or wait for some kind of super deluxe edition with more content. As much as I love Bomberman, £50 is too much.

Bananasthemonkey
13/3/2017 08:23:51 pm

Yes! Megabomberman! The ONLY computer game my (now) wife ever got into. She failed an exam at uni because of it. Never played another computer game since.

Twirl
13/3/2017 02:15:54 pm

Your all caps convinced me no explanation was needed

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Biscuits
13/3/2017 03:24:04 pm

As one of the words capitalized was KANGAROOS I choose to take your statement as sincere: I too was sold

Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
13/3/2017 04:15:51 pm

The needless graphic effects and filters and weird angle seem to be executive decisions to impress "the kids" who want their new game system to have "wicked graphics", "innit". I reckon it'll just make things harder to see on the little screen propped up on a table or something with glare on it.

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Chris Wyatt
13/3/2017 07:45:13 pm

Yeah, I know what you mean. I remember not being keen on Bomberman on the Wii. Thought the 3D just made it look tacky.

Now a re-rerelease or remake of a previous Bomberman game (e.g. Super Bomberman), with an online mode, the original levels, extra levels, downloadable content etc.. Now they would be on to a winner there! And they could always include some 'modern' mode with 3D graphics as well. They could use the same underlying game engine for both; so, done right, it could be minimal development effort to have both a classic / modern mode.

Chris
14/3/2017 01:50:18 pm

I don't recall the Wii version being particularly 3D, at least not to the extent it bothered me.

Kingsturg
13/3/2017 07:46:51 pm

I'll give you £25 for your spare copy...

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Mr Biffo
13/3/2017 08:24:50 pm

Well get a load of this: we already sold it on eBay for forty.

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Waynan The Barbarian
14/3/2017 10:14:39 am

Well done, Biff; I only managed to get £35 for mine. Ah well, i'd rather have £35 in my wallet than a cack game sat gathering dust.

Kingsturg
14/3/2017 08:00:56 pm

Haha!

You're the one who implied it was worth £25

*chuckle*

James Sutherland
14/3/2017 12:03:31 pm

For some reason it really bothers me that the explosions are individual blobs rather than being nicely joined-up like in the 2D games. You'd think that if you were going to spend a bit of time on something in a Bomberman game, it'd be the explosions.

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Darcy
14/3/2017 04:15:55 pm

The price thing has always intrigued me with "video games" because, when you look at it from an hours-to-cost ratio, they're one of the cheapest entertainment mediums out there.

I bought my brothers one of those hip new party card game things for Christmas. Twenty quid for a deck of maybe thirty cards. I think they've played the actual game itself for a combined total of an hour.

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