Title: Bomberman Act: Zero

Date: 10.15.2006

Genre: RPG

Platform: Xbox 360

Developer: Hudson Soft

Publisher: Konami

Anyone who is familiar with Bomberman would tell you that the franchise is behind some of the richest, most fun, and most accessible multiplayer games ever made. That said, Bomberman Act Zero is an exceptionally focused and polished Bomberman game, one that heavily emphasizes exactly the type of gameplay that the franchise is celebrated for.

In Bomberman Act Zero, you play as one of numerous cyborg gladiators who compete in a square, grid-like arena, and must fight to defeat each other in only one way -- by laying bombs at your feet... bombs which explode about 2-3 seconds after they are placed. This is a tactical action game for up to 8 players online, and victory comes from setting traps, psyching out opponents, and using power-up items to be able to set multiple bombs in outrageous patterns.

The arena (which is viewed from the top and takes up the entire TV screen) is separated by blocks to form rows and columns across the entire field of play, with destructible "soft blocks" randomly scattered all over the arena before the start of each round. Each player begins surrounded by soft blocks, and must place a bomb next to one to begin clearing them away. By doing so, each player may find power-up cards to increase their character's ability, while also coming into range of their opponents. Each game begins as a luck-based race to get power-ups, and gradually transitions into a frantic battleground in which those power-ups, as well as skill, attentiveness, and cool-headedness are rewarded. Due to how strong the power-ups are, the high number of them, and the re-invention of how explosions travel in a Bomberman game, I found Bomberman Act Zero to be the most dynamic and intense game in the series that I have personally played.

In addition to a top-down perspective, the game also offers an entirely new angle to Bomberman gameplay. The new mode, which the game calls "FPB" mode, essentially exchanges the top-down perspective of traditional Bomberman with a third-person camera... which can be rotated in any direction with the second joystick, and zoomed in or out with the shoulder buttons. When I had first seen FPB mode, I was baffled by it, since the mode sacrificed visibility for apparently no practical benefit. I had all but written it off as trailer food, which I assumed was made to make the game look more 3-D in footage and screenshots. But what I did not realize is that FPB is not a camera option... it's an entirely different mode! In other words, you can create online games in which every player has to use FPB. Not only that, but as an entirely different mode, the rules are slightly changed as well. So as to eliminate the cheap deaths that would definitely be common with the lesser visibility, players are not eliminated in only one hit in FPB mode. Instead, each player has a life bar, and takes damage for every split second that they stand within an explosion. Perhaps the most stunning aspect of FPB mode is that it is actually very popular online... even more popular than the normal mode of play!

The beauty of this is that even though the game has two modes, I can imagine a person who buys and plays Bomberman Act Zero primarily or even exclusively in just one of the two modes... and that person would still be getting so much out of the game, since the multiplayer gameplay is so rich and so addicting either way. Purists could stick to the normal mode, as well as non-gamers who don't want to have to mind the camera. Players with smaller TV screens could stick to the FPB mode since the top-down view in normal mode, in which the entire arena is displayed at once, might be hard to make out on small TV's or non-HD TV's.

(Note: I play on a standard TV with S-video and the TV is about 30 inches. I am comfortable playing Bomberman Act Zero on in either normal or FPB mode, although I sit about a chair closer to the TV than I usually do with other games. And I know how subtle the difference is between normal display and S-video, but I reckon that the difference -might- be relevant in the case of this game, so I pointed out that I use S-video just in case. And if you are wondering how discerning I am with this kind of stuff, then you ought to know that I can't even stand to play Project Gotham Racing 3 anymore after logging only a couple of hours on it, because its graphics were too ugly for me, on my TV.)

And yet, this game is such a streamlined package, to the extent that it's an absolute shock for better or worse. The entire game takes place in the same type of arena, with only aesthetic differences like the backgrounds. Not only that, but the single player mode is very narrow, being what is essentially 99 multiplayer rounds back-to-back, but with computer opponents. In a wonderfully bizarre, oldschool-like (yet annoying) twist, the single player mode, which can take about two hours to complete, has -no- save feature whatsoever. This mode is clearly not the main attraction, although everyone who owns this game may want to try and complete it at least once if only to see the short but curious (dare I say awe-inspiring) ending. Bomberman games have always been remembered just for the multiplayer for better or worse, and Bomberman Act Zero does not pretend to change that image. Instead, it heavily emphasizes and embraces the multiplayer, which is ready for online play for up to 8 players thanks to Xbox Live. However, in a very unfortunate and baffling move on the part of the developers, this game apparently does not support offline multiplayer, for some reason. So, if you wanted to play with your friends or family at home, together... well you can't.

However, that is not even the most criticized downside of the game, even though it should be. For some unfortunate reason, Bomberman Act Zero is wildly hated because of the redesign of the Bomberman character. You see, for over 15 years, Bomberman has appeared as a brightly colored, stubby little cartoon character. But in this game, Bomberman is a real-like armored cyborg gladiator, decorated with bolts, nuts, and chains. But to criticize the design of Bomberman Act Zero only because of the perception that the new version is devoid of a soul would be doing a great injustice to this excellent game, and the style and character it really has. The game is filled with color and flair... it's very flashy and noisy. The elaborately designed character models are rolled into the arena, hanging from their shoulders from a rail, as if they were action figures on an assembly line. They strike poses before and after each round, and when eliminated, let rip an loud, well-acted SCREAM. The enthusiasm emanating from the game's convincing presentation is, if nothing else, very amusing.

So in the end, Bomberman Act Zero is just an excellent little game that's intended purely for those who are able to play online. Sure, it's narrow, there's only one arena, only two ways to play, and the single player mode is barely even worth playing. But anyone knows about the Bomberman franchise would be lying if they didn't say that those "shortcomings" would just mean that Bomberman Act Zero focused purely on the most unbelievably fun gameplay the franchise has ever created. Anyone has played a previous Bomberman game can tell you how Act Zero is one of the most polished and interesting entries in the franchise's history of excellent multiplayer gameplay. And anyone who hasn't played a Bomberman game could not do much better than to make Act Zero their first.

Game Score

B-

Reviewed By: Contributed