Saturn Bomberman is appropriately named, because the game's strongest elements are owed to what console it's on. The Sega Saturn was a 2D powerhouse, largely due to Sega misreading the market and developing hardware that was considerably more suited to that than it was 3D. Sprites are vibrant and bursting with so much personality, it looks really sharp on a CRT. Sounds great too. Jun Chikuma's soundtrack so perfectly suits what's happening on screen that it almost feels like the game was built around it.
Mechanically, there's not much to say about this, or at least I find it hard to articulate what makes Bomberman fun in an interesting way. If you've played previous top-down entries, then you already know what to expect. Just more of that, but tighter. Stage gimmicks are generally pretty fun and learning how to navigate the increasingly complex level layouts provides a satisfying challenge. At least until the last world, which is the point at which I nearly dropped off with this thing.
Enemies start spawning directly in front of you, and as levels become more densely packed with barriers, this sometimes puts you in a position where you have little maneuverability. Having a toy plane that ignores barriers hone in on you and take your ass out the second you have control sucks, straight up. Game overs become more punishing as Bomberman in his weakest state moves very sluggishly and is only capable of dropping one piddly bomb at a time, forcing you to chip away while hoping to find any power up that may expedite your recovery. It almost becomes a grind. In fact, I'm pretty sure you can't beat any of the bosses (besides the one in the wild west level) with your normal bombs. Their hit boxes are usually further back in their sprite and the only reliable means of getting there is with a larger blast radius.
So yeah, I was prepared to write a short but glowing review, and now I just think Saturn Bomberman is perfectly average. Oh well. At least it has cute dinosaurs. Let's hold hands in Dino Land and die in a horrible explosion.
Mechanically, there's not much to say about this, or at least I find it hard to articulate what makes Bomberman fun in an interesting way. If you've played previous top-down entries, then you already know what to expect. Just more of that, but tighter. Stage gimmicks are generally pretty fun and learning how to navigate the increasingly complex level layouts provides a satisfying challenge. At least until the last world, which is the point at which I nearly dropped off with this thing.
Enemies start spawning directly in front of you, and as levels become more densely packed with barriers, this sometimes puts you in a position where you have little maneuverability. Having a toy plane that ignores barriers hone in on you and take your ass out the second you have control sucks, straight up. Game overs become more punishing as Bomberman in his weakest state moves very sluggishly and is only capable of dropping one piddly bomb at a time, forcing you to chip away while hoping to find any power up that may expedite your recovery. It almost becomes a grind. In fact, I'm pretty sure you can't beat any of the bosses (besides the one in the wild west level) with your normal bombs. Their hit boxes are usually further back in their sprite and the only reliable means of getting there is with a larger blast radius.
So yeah, I was prepared to write a short but glowing review, and now I just think Saturn Bomberman is perfectly average. Oh well. At least it has cute dinosaurs. Let's hold hands in Dino Land and die in a horrible explosion.
DeemonAndGames
1 year ago
Also, DINO LAND YOU SAY??? I may need to take this game for a ride and see the dinos for myself.
Great review as always!