It's a Bomberman world

The latest in Hudson's long-running series of Bomberman titles, Bomberman World, was released in Japan last week, the first to run on the Sony PlayStation.

Although Bomberman World is 3D like the last two Bomberman titles (Saturn Bomberman Fight!! and Bomberman 64), it is quite unlike them. While those had broken away from traditional Bomberman play, BW returns to it, albeit in a 3D polygonal world. Perhaps best compared to a 3D Saturn Bomberman, the game sees the player in block-filled mazes, which must be blasted through to acquire power-ups and destroy enemies.

The first-person scenario is very familiar: There are four different worlds to overcome, each with its own boss, and then a final boss to be taken on. The multiplayer matches are played on flat, isometrically viewed boards, and gameplay runs pretty much along the same lines as earlier titles in the series, but for the inclusion of a new power-up that allows players to pick up and throw their opponents.

Previous Bomberman games have run on the NES, SNES, Turbo-Grafx 16, Game Boy, Virtual Boy, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, PC, and Nintendo 64.

Hudson could not be reached as of press time for comment on a possible US release later in the year.