Originally published at: Review | Super Bomberman R 2 - XboxEra
Bomberman is back in ‘Super Bomberman R 2’. Developed and published by KONAMI Digital Entertainment, this entry of the game comes in the wake of the shuttering of the first game’s free-to-start ‘Super Bomberman R Online’ title and features a good selection of content, playable modes and characters, as well as a solidly built level editor. There’s also a cute little story mode that players can progress through to learn about Bomberman’s gameplay fundamentals, which you’ll then take to online and get smacked about.
It’s a hefty package, so let’s drop a few bombs and clear it all bit-by-bit.
Bombing Run
Bomberman’s gameplay is simple and at first I was going to confidently say that just about everyone’s tried it at least once. But it then occurred to me that Bomberman likely wasn’t that popular, at least outside of Asia, so I’ll touch on the basics. In Bomberman Super R 2, you play as one of the eight Bomber Bros. (or one of KONAMI’s many, many iconic characters) in tiny maps filled with blocks. And your job is to hack away to other players by dropping bombs and letting them clear a path. Breaking blocks gives powerups and stat boosts and before you know it, the maps in chaos as players are rushing to blow each other off the stage.
It’s a lot of fun and there are different modes of play, such as Castle or 64-player Bomberman. Getting into Bomberman is easy but mastering bomb placement and quick thinking will quickly ramp up into heated battles, especially when you run into long-time players online. Truth be told, the last time I played Bomberman online was via ‘Bomberman Blitz’ on the Nintendo DSi, where I connected to just one player from South Korea and who preceeded to body my 13-year old self for about a half hour. Playing Bomberman R more or less rose that memory from the archives, but on the bright side this time I was having a lot more fun.
Though the game concepts are simple, you can play the game’s story mode to get the hang of it all. The game’s campaign takes you through three worlds as the Bomber Bros., a family of Bomber people that love each other very much but are loosely held together by the responsible one, White, because they all have a one-track mind. Said family flies through space to save innocents from purple aliens whose names I’ve already forgotten. The Bombers meet a bunch of babies called Ellons and said babies join the Bros. as they investigate the “Dark Moon” (think Death Egg).
Bomberman R’s story mode is fun, although I think it suffers from being a little too repetitive. Players are introduced to the game’s mechanics over the course of the areas in each world and as they explore, they’ll defend themselves against the alien hordes via their own crafted levels which introduces them to the game’s level editor. Areas have lots of ground to cover and secret levels that can teach some neat tricks you can pull off when against other players. I just wish the areas were smaller or if progression differed a bit because this mode shows that a not-so fast-paced Bomberman isn’t really all too fun. Plus, I felt that the game was too quick to throw you into a level editor without really giving a good idea of what makes for good base defense.
One thing I do like about the story mode is the cutscenes. They’re told mostly through still backgrounds overlayed with portraits of characters, but the voice acting is adorable as is the cast. If you love the charm of the Saturday morning 4Kids block, you’ll love Bomberman R’s story mode.
Bomb Bomb Revolution
So when you’re not playing the story mode or making levels (a great tool, I’m just kinda bad at level design), you’re playing online. You have ranked matchmaking and private play, both supporting crossplay and cross-region play. I never had issues finding a match, particularly in the dead of night where I mostly played this game. I also got bodied a whole bunch, but that’s par for the course—it was still a lot of fun. Unfortunately, ranked matchmaking runs on an hourly mode rotation so you can’t just pick Standard or Castle gameplay whenever you want. Private rooms can only be joined through codes as far as I could tell, so you’ll need to join a Discord server if you want to play a particular game mode. That’s not really something I like, particularly when I’m time constrained as it is.
But on the bright side, there’s a nice selection of playable characters to pick up once you’ve got the coin. There’s no microtransactions in this game so you’ll be earning everything through play. Characters have unique abilities and varying stats, so you’ll always have an interesting tactic to work with against opponents. I only wish the game’s loading screens were shorter and Quick Resume actually worked—half a minutes load isn’t much, but it leaves me scratching my head when other, considerably more demanding games load much quicker than Bomberman R 2 does. The game does have a nice visual presentation, though I think I would have liked to see a cell-shaded approach. The music is, of course, always a treat—fast-paced and high-energy.
Despite its stingers, Super Bomberman R 2 is a solid package featuring a decent selection of characters, modes and maps, and a great level editor whose levels can be taken online and for offline play. Highly recommended for your party game line-up. ∎