Super Bomberman R 2 from Konami is the latest title in the popular franchise and is a party game sequel to the 2018 release. How does it hold up to other Bomberman releases? Check our Super Bomberman R 2 review!
The latest title of the party battle games series SUPER BOMBERMAN R!
With new adventures and game modes, it has the largest content volume in the series’ history!The game features not only offline battles that can be played with family and friends but also online battles that connect players from all over the world, as well as a single-player mode.
Bomberman has been in the gaming landscape for as long as I can remember. Way back in the days of the 8-bit consoles, I recall this was one of the first games to support the multitap – a device that allowed you to have up to four players connected at the same time on the Nintendo Entertainment System – a.k.a. the NES. Even though this Bomberman release is more of a party game, Super Bomberman R 2 adds a Story Mode that can be played on your own or with a friend in offline co-op.
Returning from Super Bomberman R are a few game modes like Battle 64, which is the classic Bomberman experience you’ve known and loved for decades, and Grand Prix, a competitive mode where teamwork is required. Each mode can be played either offline with friends or online. Along with its Story Mode, Super Bomberman R 2 adds a new Castle Mode, which splits the players into two teams: Attackers and Castle side (defenders). As you can imagine, the goal of the attackers is to get the treasures in the castles.
In Story Mode, you are told at the beginning that the planets are attacked by a black moon, and your objective will be to save the planets. Each planet to save is split into different levels interconnected together. In each one, you’ll be using the classic Bomberman gameplay mechanic: place a bomb, wait for it to explode to clear the path, then progress to the next area. Scattered in each level are blue flashing boxes that contain friends called Ellon that are used to do various things in the level, such as opening up secret rooms (puzzle sub-areas) or opening up the path forward. There’s a bit of an RPG gameplay mechanic in the Story Mode as you’ll gain experience as you blast your way in the levels and free Ellons. Leveling up increases your bomb blast range, amount of bombs that can be set at once, and your character’s speed.
After a little while with the Story Mode, I thought that it was quite boring. Your character begins with the capacity to place only a single bomb at a time and walks slowly. As you increase your level, you can place more bombs at once, but only one will allow you to clear the path in front of you, so you’ll have to wait for it anyway. It felt repetitive and tedious and isn’t very rewarding, apart from telling you you’re at level 7 out of 15 for this first planet.
The Story Mode also contains a few animated cut-scenes, but apart from the fact that there was a lot of dialogue for very little story progression and that the video compression felt a tad too high for me, it didn’t feel meaningful to the story. Moreover, the English voice acting is unfortunately quite bad, and I eventually resorted to the Japanese voice acting, which does a better overall job.
As you can imagine, I unfortunately didn’t have much fun with the Story Mode. Fortunately, there are other modes to play in this release. I tested the online Battle Mode, and after a very long wait, I finally got matched with another player. In this mode, I thought that the screen was too busy and the action was hard to follow. First of all, you have an aura of protection around you, plus there are system messages that are displayed in the center of the screen right above you, preventing you from seeing the action when it’s important.
I played a few offline battles in the classic mode with one of my daughters, and I think it was the most fun we had with this game. We added a few bots to join our party and had to blast each other to win the round. We enjoyed our time, but with the limited amount of levels available (only 7), it felt that the fun factor vanished after half an hour or so.
I played the PlayStation 5 version of this game, and I would have liked to see the DualSense features used when a nearby bomb explodes instead of a generic rumble. The interface and level design were fine. Another disappointment I had with the PS5 version was the loading times when going from the world into battle mode or when an offline match begins. Loading was between 10 to 15 seconds, which feels high when games like Spiderman can move from a completely different area of NYC instantly, thanks to the PS5 SSD.
Super Bomberman R 2 unfortunately didn’t convince me. I thought that the Story Mode felt tedious and repetitive – at least it can be played either alone or in offline co-op. There are a few other modes included, but as I played them, the fun factor vanished quickly. I would still recommend this one for gamers who have enjoyed the previous Super Bomberman R since they know what to expect from its sequel. Super Bomberman R 2 is available as a Cross-Buy title, so your $49.99 purchase will allow you to download both the PS4 and PS5 versions to play as you please.
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10004838
Disclaimer
This Super Bomberman R 2 review is based on a PlayStation copy provided by Konami.
