"Bomberman: Act Zero" does everything it can to drive new-comers to its respective franchise away. As well as
Its already apparent that from the first look of "Bomberman: Act Zero", it was DOA from the beginning. Developer "Hudson Entertainment" has completely destroyed the amazingly lovable anime/cartoon look of the old games. And went in favor of a completely lifeless cyberpunk 1990's look, that would have looked as embarrassing five years ago, as it does today. Don't expect any of the memorable characters from past games in the series. Because they have been erased in favor for a ridiculous futuristic feel that does nothing to remind fans that this is a "Bomberman" game. No, "Act Zero" tells the story of a futuristic gladiator type arena, where robots ( the bomber man characters that you play as ) battle it out for supreme victory. Yep, thats no pep added to the article. As you win a round in the arena. The character you play as literally raises his hands in victory ( and looks dumb doing so ).
While the game already fails from an artistic stand-point, it doesn't make up for it from a technical point of view. "Bommberman: Act Zero" shows the low point of the Xbox 360. With muggy textures all around, and completely lifeless and uninteresting level designs "Act Zero" looks rather heavy on the eyes. Even on the original Xbox "Bomberman: Act Zero" would only make the bar medium.
And don't expect the audio side of the game to be any different. As each level is opened and closed with a unenthusiastic announcer. And the action itself is brought down by uneven and broken sound effects. Even the main menu's sound rather bad as you are forced to listen to uninteresting dark melodramatic background music. That exists only to further the games fake edgy feel.
So, while "Act Zero" already bites the bullet as far as presentation goes. It game play, is not much different in any form. While the game tries to stick to the original "Bomberman" party game formula, it most definitely doesn't succeed. The game is a fully one button game. You use the two analog sticks to move the character around and rotate the camera, and use the "A" button to drop a bomb. Thats it. You go from level to level in the game 99 stages to claim ultimate victory. Or at least that what the people from "Hudson Entertainment" want you to think. Because the fact of the matter is that each level of "Act Zero" is completely the same. You drop with a certain amount of enemies, you take them out and progress. There's absolutely nothing more to the game beyond that.
However, the "Bomberman" series single player aspect has never been the hall-mark of the franchise. No, what has made "Bomberman" a beloved series is the party game formula that has come with it. You and a number of your friends battle it out in the game's levels. Its been fun, fast and relentlessly entertaining. However, "Bomberman: Act Zero" even fails at getting that right. Let alone that it already kills the franchises cartoon feel. Having absolutely no multi-player on one console ( which is what bomber man games have succeeded mostly at ), the game is regulated to LAN ( local area network ) and Xbox Live. The games Xbox Live support is almost non-existent. Thats right, don't expect to purchase this game in hopes of finding hundreds of players from around the world to battle it out with. Since the servers for the game are completely empty threw-out at all times. It would be a miracle in its own right to find a person online to play against. And even if there were people would bought this game, chances are they would be too embarrassed to show themselves in the games servers. So chances are "Bomberman" fans craving competitors will be stuck with the games LAN support. However, its going to be hard to find people with copies of the game to play against.
Even the games achievements are rather hard to get. So if you are a person who is looking to rent this and get the games achievements easily before returning the game. You would be wrong, since chances are by the end of a basic rental period you would get no more then around 50 points. And that is if you play a lot of "Bomberman", which is rather difficult seeing someone doing.
"Hudson Entertainment" have achieved only one thing with "Bomberman: Act Zero". That is, creating the Xbox 360's first true debacle of a title. It destroys the beloved light-hearted feel of past "Bomberman" games. And in turn nearly kills the franchise's great and enjoyable game play. If you are a casual gamer, feel free to move along and seek better gaming for your money. If you are a "Bomberman" fan, please steer clear of "Act Zero". As you will most definitely be in tears of what "Hudson" has done, by creating a lifeless game with absolutely no effort put into the title.