Game Info
Game Name: Super Bomberman R
Developer(s): Konami/HexaDrive
Publisher(s): Konami
Platform(s): Switch/PS4/Xbox One/PC
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): March 3, 2017 (Switch)/June 12, 2018 (PS4/Xbox One/PC)
ESRB Rating: E10+
Let’s get bombing!
The Five Dastardly Bombers are threatening Planet Bomber. White and his brothers and sisters must defeat the Five Dastardly Bombers to save Planet Bomber and the galaxy…but the Five Dastardly Bombers are just puppets of a bigger threat: Emperor Buggler! Buggler has plans for the galaxy and the Bombermen are the only hope. Plus, the Balloms are going wild on Planet Bomber, and the Bombermen must figure out the reason!
Super Bomberman R is an action adventure game developed by Konami and HexaDrive and published by Konami. Following the mobile game Bomberman Dojo in 2011 and the console game Bomberman Live: Battlefest in 2010, the game was initially released for the Switch in 2017 (the version reviewed here), but also received versions for PS4, Xbox One, and the PC. It was met with average to positive reviews.
How can you kill cute little critters?
Bomberman was a series of games I always wanted to like a little more. I like the idea, I like some of the strategy, but honestly, I’m too impatient for Bomberman. I rush into battle (I suppose like the Red Bomberman), and I don’t think or plan ahead…and it gets me killed repeatedly. Super Bomberman R has a lot of the classic Bomberman traits, but it also doesn’t really do anything revolutionary.
The story mode of the game is rather short. You can glide through many of the levels before getting stuck on anything tricky or frustrating. The boss battles are sometimes easier than the levels leading up to them, but it also feels like you are arbitrarily bombing just to weaken them with little strategy. Once the game is finished and Buggler is defeated, a far more challenging world opens up, but even that world is quite manageable (though Stage 7-9 really frustrated me for a while).
This stage sucked my will to live…
The graphics and sound are strong. The game goes to great lengths to try to give the Bombermen personalities, but it doesn’t really matter since they all play the same. You can purchase and upgrade characters in the shop and some of the upgrades include characters from Gradius, Castlevania, Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (an odd NES favorite), and Silent Hill 2. The PS4 has Ratchet from Ratchet & Clank, PC has P-Body from Portal 2, and Xbox One gives you the ability to buy a Master Chief skin from Halo.
The game oddly doesn’t have any built in tutorial (like them or hate them), so I played most of the game just figuring out the controls. While there are nuances to the way to use the bombs, it honestly seems just as convenient to start blowing anything and everything up to try to find power-ups and kill enemies.
Mr. Big Boss…can you not crush me?
The multiplayer aspect of the game is fun, fast, and furious. The matches set you up against other Bombermen online and you have a quick throwdown to arm yourself and destroy your enemy. Like many online games, the frustration comes from the lack of players past a certain point…you can wait for a match for ages because no one is playing.
Super Bomberman R is worth picking up if it is cheap, but not a purchase for more than $10 or $15 dollars. It is a fun, light game that is pretty stress free, but doesn’t feel incredibly repetitive despite little variation in the gameplay. If you are a Bomberman addict, you might be disappointed by the fact that it isn’t a major step up…but at least it isn’t Bomberman—Act: Zero.
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