Title: Bomberman Blast
Format: WiiWare
Price: 1000 Wii Points (£7)


This is how 97% of your games will look, and they will all be awesome

Reviewing Bomberman games got hard around Super Bomberman when the game mechanics were so set in stone that every gamer worth their Gamertag knew them and could jump into the game needing to only know which button dumped down a bomb. However as time went by Hudson tried and tried over and over again to reinvent the series, from the vertical (and awesome) Pocket Bomberman on the Gameboy to the horrific Act Zero which wasn't really a game because it never happened. OK? OK. So after the fine Bomberman Live last year can Hudson pull out the goods for the white helmeted one's 25th birthday?


Open map FTW

I'm not going to jerk you around, Bomberman Blast still has the same unnecessary crap that weighs down every Bomberman game. 4 game modes fill the rules screen, Air Raid (dodge falling bombs, but you can't place any yourself), Countdown (I'll discuss that later) and King (hold a crown at the end of time to win) join the Classic Bomberman mode. All these are pointless (though Air Raid can be fun) as after trying them each once you'll only be playing Classic. The same stuff applies to the stages, a lot of the old tricks are brought back like full speed and full power and have the same fun 2-3 times. However yet again after a few plays you'll be right back to the classic map. However there is a map that has no hard blocks, so once the destructable blocks are gone its a fully open map. That is a properly brilliant addition, especially once someone dies and there are items everywhere, at times like that the Bomberman item grab becomes even more frantic.


The zombie map, fun for a few minutes

A major factor in modern Bomberman however is online play and this is really where you're going to spend most of your time. In a brilliant move its possible for everyone playing to use their own profiles rather than just being tagged as a generic Guest, so if everyone you have round has their profiles on your Wii you can all play with your own usernames and earn points. The game uses the brilliant rating system like Tetris DS and Mario Kart Wii so consistent performance is rewarded, and for the first time you're shown how your score was worked out. Kinda important as its these points that decide online series' (set as 2 battles). In addition to all that the game has no noticable lag in the games I've been playing, its truly a brilliant setup (well, there are friend codes but bring your own opinion to that) that in places exceeds Bomberman Live. Bomberman online has truly been mastered now.


Yeah, those mega-bombs are back. May cause cursing

In all honesty, its really hard to find a reason for you to not download Bomberman Blast immediately. Unless you really hate Bomberman (in which case you should be arrested for crimes against fun) you should drop the points on it without hesitation. Its one of the best games to hit WiiWare in a very long time and certainly one of the best games to use Nintendo Wi-Fi. Only worry really is, how can Hudson top this?

Oh yeah, and this is a Wii title to be congratulated. So Hudson get free blowjobs for every person who worked on this game because there is NO FUCKING WAGGLE!!

Score -- 9 -- Superb (9s are a hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage to what is a supreme title.)

Yeah, proper D-Toid scoring bitches.