Bomberman Land review

Before you can play the minigames individually, you first have to unlock them in the story mode. Mercifully, that simply means walking up to random characters in order to trigger story events and then trying your best in the minigames that make up each round. If you want, you can practice upcoming minigames in the training room, which nets you points that can be used to buy outfits that will give you extra tries in each tournament. The catch-22 there, as noted above, is that the minigames aren't much fun. At least the charming 3D scenes featuring the bulbous Bomberman characters and goofy dialogue keep the mood light.

The lone bright spot is the inclusion of a solid rendition of the classic, four-player Bomberman battle game. As always, each player starts out in a corner of the maze and then proceeds to run around laying time bombs that will blow up bricks and (if you're tricky) the other players. Purists may scoff at the 3D bricks and characters, but the overhead viewpoint and familiar power-up items haven't changed. Getting the shoe that lets you kick bombs across the floor is still wickedly rewarding and you can still collect flame tiles to extend your blasts to ridiculous lengths. Six game types and 24 hazard-filled arenas will keep you and your buddies coming back for more. Just remember: there's no online functionality.

Compared to other minigame collections, Bomberman Land is a dud. However, it isn't a bad way to bring home the classic Bomberman game that people have been enjoying for years. That's assuming, of course, that you have no way of hooking your Wii up to the Internet and downloading Bomberman '93 from the Virtual Console shop for a measly six dollars.

Feb 14, 2008