Bomberman Act: Zero

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Hands-on with the black sheep of the Bomberman family

Since Bomberman's new, more realistic look on the Xbox 360 was unveiled recently, there's been a mild furor rippling through the internet. Some fans weren't happy about the new storyline, either, which recasts the chirpy little sapper as an imprisoned test subject who's stuffed into some huge-handed body armor and forced to fight his (or her) fellow inmates.

But after trying it ourselves, we can say that underneath that armored exoskeleton beats the heart of the same old Bomberman. It's true that Act: Zero adds a freely movable camera (intended to create a more claustrophobic feel), a life bar and the ability to hide or reduce the damage you take by crouching. But for purists, there's also Standard mode, which features a fixed camera (with a view of the entire arena) and one-hit kills.

Sadly, one thing they aren't working on is a way to play with friends on the same Xbox 360. Konami tells us that in addition to its 99-level, light-on-story single-player mode, Bomberman Act: Zero will focus entirely on eight-player matches over Xbox Live. Seeing as half the fun of Bomberman has always been in sitting on a couch and trying to elbow the controllers out of your buddies' hands, this seems like a huge mistake. We're told that the eight-way online matches will get pretty crazy, but can they match the craziness of up to 10 guys physically pummeling each other over an onscreen winning streak? We'll know more in the coming months.

Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.