Bomberman: Act Zero (Xbox 360, 2006)

Graphics: Below Average - 2/5
Took a classic, tried to revamp it, and killed it…

Gameplay: Below Average - 2/5
The controls are alright, but they took many things away from this game, and the online is seriously lacking.

Sound: Below Average - 2/5
Below average.

Replay Value: Bad - 1/5
Get the achievements and run. No one is online to play with anyway.

Bomberman is a game that is a classic. Fun little robots running around trying to blow each other up. The appeal falls into an addictive heads up game that leaves players searching for power-ups and well placed bombs to dismember each other. This was a great game in the 90’s, but Konami’s meager outing for Bomberman on the XBOX 360 is pretty bad. Trying to juice things up, Bomberman: Act Zero only brings a scratch to this great franchise. Previous installments on previous systems had there faults, but still managed to make breath some fresh air into this aging series. This XBOX 360 version tries to vamp up the character interfaces, the actions, and the movements, taking away the thing that made the original Bomberman games fun, its simplicity.

To charge gamers $50+ retail for this train wreck is a big mistake. You would expect a game like this to come out on the DS or PSP, and be fun – but not on the 360 where it just drags. Though it is not the worst game out there, it does do disjustice to the Bomberman games of past. As a big fan of the Bomberman games, and almost failing my freshman year because of the series, it is dispointing to see this game. If you must, rent it and play it, but for $50+ after tax, this is one that you should wait to go to $20 or get it dirt cheap on EBAY.

OVERALL Average: 7/20 = 1.75/5 = 35%
Sorry Bomberman, you failed to make the grade. This should have been an XBOX Live arcade release.