Super Bomberman R 2 review

Super Bomberman R 2 review : You may have crossed paths with Bomberman, who entered the gaming world in 1983. Despite its simple structure, it was one of the games I played with pleasure as a child and finished many times. The series, which has remained a classic from past to present, went through many distributor and developer changes during this period, and its last stop was Konami. Super Bomberman R, which came exclusively to Nintendo Switch in 2017, has taken its place on almost every platform over time. Moreover, the series, which captured today’s player base with Super Bomberman R Online in 2020, is here with its new game Super Bomberman R 2 after three years. Let’s take a look at this new game of the Bomberman classic.

Super Bomberman R 2 review

Super Bomberman R 2 review

The basic mechanics of the game are as you know from the classic series: You leave your bomb and run to a corner to make your way in a maze-like area and set a trap for your opponents, otherwise you may become the victim of your own trap. In this process, you try to be the last bomber alive by grabbing the power-ups from the blocks you exploded before the countdown ends.

Castle Mode

In addition to the standard mode, the game also includes a new mode. One of them is castle mode. While one of the players takes on the task of defending the castle, the other players fight together to collect the keys on the map and steal the treasures. Of course, there are also obstacles around, such as moving floors, grenade launchers, and timed lasers.

I must say, this mode is visually very eye-straining. Many times I lost myself on the map. On the other hand, the best part of this mode is that if you are on the defending side, you can develop your own base as a “level editor”. I must say at this point that I found the level design part a little more complicated when compared to Mario Maker. Still, it’s a good innovation to allow you to undertake various strategies while protecting your treasure. In addition, there are arenas with different designs in the game itself that you can choose from. The fact that the castle defender has a weapon that can destroy more than one enemy with a single shot has also preserved the balance in the game.

Super Bomberman R 2 review

If I have to talk about other battle modes, there are also modes called Grand Prix and Battle 64, which you know from old games. The Grand Prix involves two different teams collecting crystals in the same arena, with the team winning the most. What I enjoyed most here was that when you explode someone from the opposing team, all their collected items are scattered around and you have the chance to get ahead at any moment. Also, even though you competed as a team, it was nice to be evaluated individually in the scoring section.

I can say that Battle 64 is actually a battle royal mode. You may remember this mode from Super Bomberman R Online. Simultaneously, bombers compete with each other in different arenas and fight to be the last player alive at the end of the tournament. Like other modes, there is a countdown here as well, which increases the exciting competition. What I liked here was that instead of cramming sixty-four players into a single arena, the tournament progressed in simultaneous mini-arenas. As time progresses, you throw yourself into safe arenas and try to eliminate your opponents.

Scenario Mode

Super Bomberman R 2 review

Another innovation is that the game has a scenario mode. In this mode, the game brings eight “bomberman” brothers to the screens with two-dimensional, humorous cutscenes. As for the plot, events begin with Black Moon attacking another planet. In this case, eight brothers, led by White Bomber, must save the universe. It didn’t bother me while watching because the plot was cliché and the cutscenes progressed in a sweet and funny setup.

Returning to the gameplay of the campaign mode, we are faced with an open world consisting of interconnected arenas waiting to be discovered. Our goal is to collect alien babies named “Ellon” to gain power and move forward. Because there is a minimum number of Ellons we need to reach before we can pass through some passages and access other platforms. We can complete the scenario mode by visiting three planets in total and collecting Ellons. It is not just about exploring in the open world; as we open certain passages, we have to play the castle mode and we can build a base according to our defense strategy. There are also bosses in the campaign mode.

Puzzle Sections

Super Bomberman R 2 review

As you progress, the variety of enemies increases. For example, after a while, you may encounter enemies that can remove the bomb you placed with their ranged attack. In addition, traps such as timed lasers and grenade launchers are increasing. Despite all this progressive increase in diversity, I cannot say that I like the scenario mode. After a while I got bored of doing the same things. My favorite part of the scenario mode was the mini puzzle sections that we could unlock with the Ellons we collected.

Puzzle sections are also designed in accordance with Bomberman dynamics. For example, there are five blocks. The game gives your order in blasting these blocks. You must make such a move that the blocks must explode in the order given by the game. Actually, it would be nice if there was a special puzzle mode other than the scenario mode.

In the scenario mode, we can level up with the skill points obtained from the blocks, and at the levels we skip, our basic features such as speed and bomb effectiveness increase. Although each of these are good moves to keep the player going, as I said above, they could not make the scenario mode attractive.

Artificial intelligence

Super Bomberman R 2 review

Playing team games with artificial intelligence is not very enjoyable. They can leave bombs in unexpected places and cause you to explode. I especially recommend playing castle mode and grand prix with real people. Speaking of playing with real people, you can enter ranked play and also create a private room in the game. The biggest plus is that the game has cross-platform features.

shop

While playing the game both online and offline, we can earn in-game money at the end of the matches and thus we can open new characters from the shop section. There are not only new characters, but also various cosmetic items and skins. Again, just like in the old game, it makes me smile to see characters such as Konami’s Solid Snake and Silent Hill’s cute (!) rabbit Robbie.

Nintendo Switch Review

When I used the Switch as a handheld console, I wasn’t bothered much by the appearance of the game, but when I played with a 24-inch monitor, I can say that the resolution bothered me a bit. I couldn’t see much visual improvement compared to the game released five years ago. Joycon controls were flawless.

Conclusion

Basically, if you want to play an online or offline party game with your friends, you can have a pleasant time, or you can also have an individual time by playing the standard battle mode against artificial intelligence and opening cosmetic items, skins and new characters with the in-game money you earn.

Super Bomberman R 2 review

In this game, many of the features I mentioned, apart from the castle mode, “level editor” section and scenario mode, were also present in the old games. Since I find the scenario mode weak, I can say that only the castle mode and base development section make the game enjoyable. Frankly, I expected a better game than the old game, but in this respect it was a disappointment.

Super Bomberman R 2 available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One and Steam; It was released with a price tag of 49.9 dollars. If you are not looking for a party game right now, I recommend you buy it later during the discount period. If you are interested in party games, you can also take a look at our review of Everybody 1-2 Switch, a Nintendo Switch exclusive game released this year.