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Nintendo: DS Reviews

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Review

Bomberman Land Touch!

86%

Format Nintendo DS

Developer Hudson Soft

Publisher Rising Star

Genre Adventure

9-Jan-2008 The actions' hardly explosive but that's no bad thing...

Bomberman is too cool for school. Everyone knows that. But part of his appeal is the fact that all he does is chuck bombs around. Developers have tried to put him in games that have a plot or that don't rely heavily on bomb-throwing but they never work. Why? Well, they try too hard to mimic the gameplay of the multiplayer mode. And they use more realistic circular bomb explosions. Rubbish.

The good thing about Bomberman Land Touch! is that it leaves the bomb-battling to the multiplayer mode and does something completely different. Here, Bomberman visits the vibrant Bomber Island on a pseudo-3D quest in a game that's part RPG, part mini-game compilation. You start off as standard Bomberman, speaking to the Bomberpeople of the island and completing mini-games to earn powers and equipment. New items, along with tokens he earns, allow Bomberman to delve deeper into the surprisingly large game world.

As the title suggests, the game is played entirely using the stylus - touch anywhere on the screen to make Bomberman run in that direction and tap on people, buildings or objects to make him interact with them.

Don't Ban The Bomb
As you wander around the island, you enter the many houses to initiate mini-game challenges, and there are some brilliant games here. You'll be moving a trampoline to bounce Bomberman up a shaft within a time limit. Or drawing fuses from coloured bombs to the corresponding spark to detonate them. Or sorting bombs into colours as they rush at you on a conveyor belt.

The brilliance is in the variety: some games test your stylus control, reactions and gaming skills, others test your memory or ability to think fast. And they're generally surprisingly tough too.

Aside from Story mode you've got the multiplayer Battle mode that throws conveyor belts, moving spikes and all sorts of obstacles into the usual grid. The arenas are spread across two screens, giving players plenty of space to battle. And this time Battle mode supports eight-player fun with one copy of the game (though if you want to play online over the Wi-Fi Connection it only supports four people). This is one of the best Bomberman Battle modes ever and one of the best multiplayer games on the DS.

Bomberman Land Touch! is so much better than we expected. Here's an adventure that's different, entertaining, challenging and perfect for a portable format. The emphasis may be on mini-games rather than adventuring, but with the awesome Battle mode this is a great package.

Tom East

Don't overlook Bomberman because he's old-school. Bomberman Land Touch! is a brilliant turnaround for Bomberman adventuring and a great multiplayer game for your DS.