PixlBit

The second time is a charm.

Continuing the genre confusion of the first Bomberman Nintendo 64 title, Bomberman 64: The Second Attack! is also an action game with puzzle elements. This time around, pieces of the classic Bomberman formula are combined with the new conventions of the first 3D title. The result is an improved single player experience, but leaves the battle mode as a mixed bag of fixes and new issues.

The game opens with a scene of Bomberman aboard his spaceship, in the possession of a mysterious egg with no explanation of its origin. Before long, a black hole appears out of nowhere, sucking in his spaceship and knocking him unconscious. When he awakes, he finds himself in a jail cell, along with the creature named Pommy who hatched from the egg. Bomberman soon learns that his captors, the BHB Army (it is never mentioned for what "BHB" is an acronym, it's forever a mystery, don't think about it), are responsible for the creation of the black whole. The seven Astral Knights of this army plan to destroy the universe using the seven Elemental Stones. Bomberman's goal is to collect the stones, so that he may stop their plan and escape from the black hole. The story is pretty straightforward, with one extremely expected plot twist near the end. The dialogue also changes depending on the order in which you defeat the knights, a detail which seems a bit excessive for a story of this simplicity.

Throughout the game, the mysterious creature Pommy will follow Bomberman around. Pommy can fight enemies, and his attack method will depend on which form he evolves into. Various types of food will appear from defeated enemies or bombed blocks, and collecting enough of a certain type of food will evolve Pommy into another form. The attack of most forms won't defeat enemies, but rather simply stun them. It is possible to have Pommy controlled by a second player, giving the game a sort of co-op option.

Taking a page from classic Bomberman games, bombs once again explode in a plus sign-shaped pattern. Given that many levels aren't set up with grid patterns on the ground, it can sometimes be difficult to judge when in the vicinity of the imminent explosion. This change impacts the multiplayer battle mode more than the single player. Many stages have wide open spaces, and some have hills or multiple floors; catching an opponent in such a narrowed blast is too often more difficult than it should be.

Each stage of the game has one Astral Knight within it, and when Bomberman defeats him or her and claims the Elemental Stone, he acquires a new bomb type. There are seven types of bombs in all, including light and dark bombs in addition to the various elements. Each one's effect is useful in solving the game's puzzles. Wind bombs can push Bomberman over gaps, for example. Some bomb types have a couple issues in execution. The ice bomb, for instance, can be placed into water to create an ice platform. If the bomb is dropped into the water, it can be difficult to escape from the resulting explosion. One welcome change is that there are very few places where jumping on bombs is necessary, a mechanic that was questionable at best.

The custom Bomberman option returns as well. Unfortunately, it does so with none of the improvements it sorely needed. A custom Bomberman still requires saving to a Controller Pak in order to be used in the battle mode. From what I can tell, all of the pieces are returning from the first game, with no new ones added. However, I've never collected them all in either game, so I'm not entirely certain on that. With the characters in the battle mode being scaled down to a slightly smaller size, custom pieces have even less detail than previously.

Once again, the battle mode is likely the place where people will spend the majority of their time with the game. There are four new battle modes along with the standard last-man-standing option. The Battle Royal awards points for bombing other players, and whoever has the most at the end is declared the victor. This mode may be the most frenzied of the bunch, since it has four active players bombing each other from beginning to end. In the King and Knights mode, teams must protect their king, and attempt to bomb the enemy royalty. The kings are basically a flag of sorts; they don't move, and instead, can be picked up and carried like any item.

What seems like a strange idea are the two split-screen modes. The Key Trial mode places three or four keys hidden in destructible blocks, and whoever collects two of them first is the winner. A player will drop a key if they are bombed. The mode can be a bit boring and uneventful, since players only go after one another if they can't find the keys from the blocks first. In Score Attack, players scramble to earn the most points by bombing destructible blocks and collecting the items which come popping out. Some points will be deducted if a player is bombed, as well as causing a few point items to fly out of them. Once again, this mode doesn't have as much player interaction as the typical Bomberman battle, which can make it dull at times. Though some might appreciate the change of pace.

There are twenty maps available in all, which is twice the amount of the original Bomberman 64. Unfortunately, each mode has only eight of these selectable, though some are specifically designed for certain modes and wouldn't work for others. This includes large maps that would be too big to fit on one screen, and maps that separate the players from one another. One map available is the classic "grid" layout, but most other maps continue the wide open tradition introduced in the first Nintendo 64 title. With the return of the classic bomb explosions, some scuffles can be drawn out far too long, given the difficulty of trapping an opponent which can arise from such an opened space.

The presentation feels a bit cheap. Character models are blocky and scarcely detailed, especially in the battle mode, where they don't even have arms. The effects are mostly two-dimensional, which causes the explosions of the various bombs to seem a bit off. The sound department is a little better than the graphics effort. There is a wide variety of music to be heard in the game, ranging from the piano techno of the ice level, to the rumbling bass of the volcanic stage. Each battle mode has its own theme, which fits the corresponding type of play in tempo and style. It can still get a little repetitive though, and an option to select any of the game's many tunes to play would have been ideal. Overall, the music is both fitting and catchy.

Overall, despite its shortcomings and bland looks, Bomberman 64 is an enjoyable game. Fans of the series will likely appreciate the variety of the single player adventure, though others might find it to be uninteresting and dull. The battle mode remains the highlight of the game, and is frantic fun as always, even with its pacing issues. Unfortunately, the title is a bit on the rare side, so this is one game recommended only for fans of the Bomberman series.