Bomberman Ultra
The virtual equivalent of bubble wrap
Posted July 10, 2009
Ever since its release, the Playstation 3 has been pretty anemic when it comes to party games; at least when compared to the Wii and Xbox 360. Well, Bomberman Ultra has finally arrived on the Playstation Network to correct that oversight. With support for up to 8 players, this marks one of the few games on the Playstation 3 that can be played by more than four people - and the only one that's a puzzle game. Of course, there is also a single player side to the game for you to practice and hone your skills, but the most fun is to be found in multiplayer.
Like Mario and Sonic, Bomberman seems to one of those franchises that seem to always survive by having new releases every few years, appearing on different consoles. The two most recent Bomberman titles up until Ultra are Bomberman Live for the Xbox 360 and Bomberman Blast for the Wii. Like Ultra, both Blast and Live are downloadable titles and in fact play very similarly to Ultra. This latest addition does stick close to the classic Bomberman formula, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. For those unfamiliar with Bomberman, the gameplay is best described as a combination of action and puzzle. The classic Bomberman formula is basically to survive by avoiding being hit by others' bombs while hitting others with your bombs and that part of the game is fairly easy to learn.
Gameplay
The game can be more of less split into two main modes: single player and multi player. Both single and multiplayer offer the same challenges, maps, and abilities so there really isn't any advantage in playing one or another except that unlocking items (more on that later) can be a tad easier in single player mode. Multiplayer is where the real fun is, and the more people the merrier. Bomberman Ultra adds in several game modes such as Zombie and Painting, which offer vastly different gameplay styles. For instance in Paint mode, instead of trying to blow your enemies into oblivion, you’ll be assigned a color and you must use your bombs to "paint" a squares and the player with the most colored squares wins the game.
Multiplayer be either local, online, or a combination of the two. Local multiplayer offers the best experience if you can get enough players together (which shouldn't be too hard of a problem if you're already at a party). In local play, the game supports up to a maximum of 7 players, which can quite hectic in the later parts of matches. Online games can be fun and support up to 8 players, but at the same time they can be extremely laggy. To say that some online matches can be unplayable is an understatement, as there have been times that I had to manually reset my PS3 just to return to the Home screen. It wouldn’t be accurate to say all online matches are laggy, but with the game so dependent on correct timing, just a small amount of lag can be the difference between a win and a loss. For that reason, local multiplayer can be much more exciting and less aggravating than online play.
Another area in which Bomberman shines is its amazing replay value, with tons of unlockable outfits and costumes. These costumes can only be unlocked during gameplay by collecting certain power ups that appear during matches, especially near the end of them. These power ups appear in both single and multiplayer modes, though in online play the unlockables are only awarded to the player that collects the power up. For that reason, single player is sure to appeal to anyone looking for an easy way to unlock these new outfits.
Graphics
The graphics in Bomberman Ultra are vibrant and viewing the game in 720p is a welcome addition to the franchise, but they certainly aren’t pushing the graphical envelope with this game. The colors are colorful and bright as expected for a Bomberman game, and get the job done. If you’re looking for Bloom, ultra high resolution textures, and bump mapping, you’ll not find it in this game. Instead, you’ll get graphics that fit the game perfectly.
Sound
The audio is one part of the game that does stumble a bit, since it can grow repetitive quite fast. There are few music tracks in the game, and those will undoubtedly be played over and over and over. This wouldn’t be so bad if the game allowed for changing the music for your own MP3s, but unfortunately that ability is disabled. The sound effects are adequate though there really aren’t all that many of them.
Conclusion
Bomberman Ultra is certainly a great party game with high replay value, but its online mode is mired in lag, which does take quite a lot of fun out of the experience. Local multiplayer is bound to be the most enjoyable mode, without any of the lag that’s found in multiplayer and will be the reason why the game will retain its replay value for a long time. Bomberman is simply just one of those games that is amazingly easy to pick up and understand, but hard to master.
Like Mario and Sonic, Bomberman seems to one of those franchises that seem to always survive by having new releases every few years, appearing on different consoles. The two most recent Bomberman titles up until Ultra are Bomberman Live for the Xbox 360 and Bomberman Blast for the Wii. Like Ultra, both Blast and Live are downloadable titles and in fact play very similarly to Ultra. This latest addition does stick close to the classic Bomberman formula, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. For those unfamiliar with Bomberman, the gameplay is best described as a combination of action and puzzle. The classic Bomberman formula is basically to survive by avoiding being hit by others' bombs while hitting others with your bombs and that part of the game is fairly easy to learn.
Gameplay
The game can be more of less split into two main modes: single player and multi player. Both single and multiplayer offer the same challenges, maps, and abilities so there really isn't any advantage in playing one or another except that unlocking items (more on that later) can be a tad easier in single player mode. Multiplayer is where the real fun is, and the more people the merrier. Bomberman Ultra adds in several game modes such as Zombie and Painting, which offer vastly different gameplay styles. For instance in Paint mode, instead of trying to blow your enemies into oblivion, you’ll be assigned a color and you must use your bombs to "paint" a squares and the player with the most colored squares wins the game.
Multiplayer be either local, online, or a combination of the two. Local multiplayer offers the best experience if you can get enough players together (which shouldn't be too hard of a problem if you're already at a party). In local play, the game supports up to a maximum of 7 players, which can quite hectic in the later parts of matches. Online games can be fun and support up to 8 players, but at the same time they can be extremely laggy. To say that some online matches can be unplayable is an understatement, as there have been times that I had to manually reset my PS3 just to return to the Home screen. It wouldn’t be accurate to say all online matches are laggy, but with the game so dependent on correct timing, just a small amount of lag can be the difference between a win and a loss. For that reason, local multiplayer can be much more exciting and less aggravating than online play.
Another area in which Bomberman shines is its amazing replay value, with tons of unlockable outfits and costumes. These costumes can only be unlocked during gameplay by collecting certain power ups that appear during matches, especially near the end of them. These power ups appear in both single and multiplayer modes, though in online play the unlockables are only awarded to the player that collects the power up. For that reason, single player is sure to appeal to anyone looking for an easy way to unlock these new outfits.
Graphics
The graphics in Bomberman Ultra are vibrant and viewing the game in 720p is a welcome addition to the franchise, but they certainly aren’t pushing the graphical envelope with this game. The colors are colorful and bright as expected for a Bomberman game, and get the job done. If you’re looking for Bloom, ultra high resolution textures, and bump mapping, you’ll not find it in this game. Instead, you’ll get graphics that fit the game perfectly.
Sound
The audio is one part of the game that does stumble a bit, since it can grow repetitive quite fast. There are few music tracks in the game, and those will undoubtedly be played over and over and over. This wouldn’t be so bad if the game allowed for changing the music for your own MP3s, but unfortunately that ability is disabled. The sound effects are adequate though there really aren’t all that many of them.
Conclusion
Bomberman Ultra is certainly a great party game with high replay value, but its online mode is mired in lag, which does take quite a lot of fun out of the experience. Local multiplayer is bound to be the most enjoyable mode, without any of the lag that’s found in multiplayer and will be the reason why the game will retain its replay value for a long time. Bomberman is simply just one of those games that is amazingly easy to pick up and understand, but hard to master.