By now, most everyone is familiar with Bomberman, Hudson's lovable demolition addict, who has now been happily blowing his way through mazes for 21 years. This time, the rotund star has appeared in more than 50 games, making him one of the most ubiquitous faces in video games, despite his lukewarm US popularity. Super Bomberman, for Series 60 phones, is pretty much par for the course and doesn't depart from Hudson's established model in any meaningful way. The game provides great music along with play in two classic modes, albeit with a bit of slowdown.
For the uninitiated, Bomberman is a creature equipped with infinite bombs. Through power-ups, he can increase the blast radius of his endless supply of explosives, as well as the frequency with which he can drop them. The idea is to blow up enemies and destructible maze elements without getting caught in the explosion. Each maze is complete when you destroy all the enemies therein and then find the exit, which is usually hidden beneath a destructible box.
In Super Bomberman, you can play either against random baddies, across progressively difficult mazes, or you can take on three CPU-controlled Bomberman clones for competitive play. The latter mode is much better-suited to the quick games that are mobile's mainstay. If you've ever played a Bomberman title before, you're going to feel right at home. If not, the game's single-button gameplay isn't in the least bit difficult to pick up. Bluetooth handsets, such as the Nokia 6600, have support for the game's multiplayer feature.
Super Bomberman looks good, although the faster pace of the game's versus mode leads to slowdown. The game's audio is a greater highlight, especially with a couple of the classic Bomberman tunes.
Super Bomberman is a straightlaced port with plenty of levels to keep you busy. There's nothing here that really caters to the strength of the mobile platform (like an online scoreboard), aside from Bomberman's addictive play. However, if you're a fan of Bomberman, or of action puzzle games at large, this is a decent offering. Bomberman never fails to set up chain explosions with psychotic zeal, and his rampage has yet again gone unchecked.
