I’ve played the game. It became available here in the US on the 29th. There’s also a tournament & sweepstakes coming up. Here’s my review of the game (which I also posted over the Hudson forums).
So after spending a few hours on this game so far, I can safely say I like the gameplay better than that of Bomberman Live.
I’ll start off by saying that while I like playing with the D-pad in Bomberman, both the Wiimote’s and Gamecube’s d-pad is much too small. My thumb sits over the whole thing.
I love all the different gameplay modes. I think they should’ve added a Panel attack aka Zombie mode.
The levels overall are better and are more creative than Bomberman Live’s levels although some of the level specific anomiles (such as the UFO flying around, or the zombie hands from the graveyard) are too powerful or random. Again, it’s a nice creative change though. I love how Pressure Blocks aka Sudden Death is handled in this game. It comes in many random variations (like it did ala Bomberman Land) to make the last few seconds of the game very interesting and less predictable.
The items in the game are nice. I like the fact that even while there is dangerous bomb, it does not get crazy large like it does in Bomberman Live. I still disagree with Power Glove allowing you to hold bombs indefinately but it seems that that if you short fuse a bomb, pick it up and throw it, it won’t explode immediately (eg: the fuse timer resets). I love the addition of jelly bombs (I’ve always said that Bomberman Live should’ve had that). Seems this game doesn’t have kick stop either (as it should be). Customizable weapon setups is also a great feature.
The point feature is a good addition to the Trophy (Win) feature. Sometimes I have to wonder about the point distribution but it nice knowing that it covers the fact that some people just sit in the corner and win by default (aka doing the least amount of work) and it adjusts for that, so they may not necessarily win overall. The point system is also great in King mode seeing as it’d be pretty lame if the person who had the crown at the end (as in the last 3 seconds of the match) won.
My biggest gripe of the game so far is the online menu setup. You only have two options, Friend Play or Ranked Matches (I’ve only played the latter). With Ranked matches you don’t have the option of searching for game and it basically does a “quick search” which sometimes takes up to ~2 minutes. Then on top of that, you have to wait another 2-3 minutes for a match to end so you can join. Bomb dodge is nice and all for the first few times you play, but it gets to the point where you quickly want to join in an online match but you have to sit there and wait. So when all is said and done, you may be waiting for a total of 5 minutes or so to join a single match. This got old very fast.
I think they should add an Unranked match setup or something where you can choose from a server list of games going on (pretty much like in Bomberman Live). You should be able to look at the settings
Another thing I noticed is that there is no Team Play online. I searched for it but did not find such thing. I think this should be changed. Again, I have not played Friend
More indepthly, I don’t think you should be dizzied with a bomb hitting you on the head while you’re standing ontop of another one. Even Bomberman Live had this correct. The bomb should continue to bounce to the next open/free spot.
So overall the game is good and actual game modes, items, levels are better than Bomberman Live. I just think they seriously need to work on the Wifi Play menu setup. I just want to be able to either search for games or join current rooms already setup and not have to wait ~5 minutes to get a match going. I’m sure there will be some patches fixed and all and look forward to them.
I’ll give it a 7.5-8.0 out of 10 as it stands right now. If or when they fix the whole online menu thing, I think it’ll be deserving of close to a 9 (for perspective, Bomberman Live is a 7.0 in my book)