** This thread discusses the Content article: PSP Fanboy review: Bomberman Land **

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But, what makes Bomberman Land
even less appealing are the mini-games themselves. They're simply not
very good, or fun. These games are necessarily flawed per se; rather,
they're uninspired. Whack-a-mole is pretty hard t

There are a number of modes to play through, but the game's
focus is its titular Bomberman Land mode. In this story-based journey,
Bomberman is sent on a quest to save Bomberman Land by collecting
various land pieces, 150 in total. By collecting the right land pieces,
Bomberman will be able to unlock more parts of this inexplicably sunken
world. To make matters worse, the denizens of this land have seemingly
undergone collective amnesia, and will only bestow the "Piece King"
(that's you, by the way) a piece when he completes one of the game's 50
mini-games.


Nothing has to be intrinsically wrong about the mini-game genre. However, Bomberman Land
fails to entertain due to a number of serious flaws. Firstly, getting
to attractions is quite a chore. The extensive world map is littered
with dozens of points, none of which are particularly interesting. In
fact, many involve partaking in mundane conversations of no
consequence. Many scenarios involve Bomberman going to a desolate
location, where his sidekick says some rather inane point about the
locale. "These boulders sure are big!" And then, inexplicably, you'll
be rewarded with a piece. Only with the proper combination of items
will players be able to progress, and find points where mini-games can
be unlocked. In three hours of play, we were only able to unlock about
a dozen games. That's uncool.o mess up, but it's
also rarely engaging. Being forced to play the same balloon-popping
game for the third time becomes really aggrevating. It wasn't fun the
first time; it certainly doesn't become more entertaining all of a
sudden.


Too
bad the game's focus is the awful Bomberland Land mode. The game's best
point is still what the franchise has been built on: bomb-based
multiplayer. This classic game returns, yet again, and demonstrates the
fun and exhileration that Bomberman
should provide. The use of Game Sharing is a welcomed addition: with
it, you can transfer the multiplayer experience to all your PSP-owning
friends, even those that don't have the game.

You can even
transfer the minigames you've unlocked to your friends. But why bother?
They're not really worth it. At the end of the day, the best use of
this UMD is to play a decades-old game that you may already have on
another console. Is that worth $30? Certainly not. We're hoping Hudson
gets its act together and releases the classic Bomberman
on the PS Store. A digital download of this arcade classic would be the
best treatment of the franchise they could possibly give it.

PSP Fanboy score: 5.0Permalink