A Bomberman vs Zombies Review

The hero of A Bomberman vs. Zombies isn’t the cute, classic gaming mascot of the now defunct publisher Hudson Soft. This guy does lay bombs but he isn’t the Bomberman, he’s just a bomberman. This mild thievery might have been more excusable if the game did anything new or interesting with its unoriginal design but sadly it does not.

Zombies have descended upon the Earth and of course the logical thing to do is to plant bombs and blow them all up. Each of the 50 levels is a grid filled with undead to incinerate. However, clearing the floor isn’t the only way to proceed as each level also has an escape key hidden in one of the plentiful boxes. Blowing up these boxes can also change a zombie’s path as well as reveal speed, firepower, and remote control bomb upgrades. Again though, this will all feel incredibly familiar to anyone who has played one of the numerous official Bomberman games. If anything, the accidental self-destructions caused by laggy touch controls make it a decidedly worse experience. Plus, most of the real Bomberman’s fun comes from its multiplayer mode which this game lacks.

What this game does have is zombies, and their implementation is actually pretty decent. There are several different types and their movement patterns, while predictable, are erratic enough to keep players on their toes especially once the enemy’s routes start expanding. Particularly dangerous foes include the zombies that can dig underneath obstacles and the speedy, hopping skulls. Still, if zombies are the most original thing a game has going for it something is wrong.

The cartoon graphics look cheap and bland but somehow that seems appropriate. Even the game’s one piece of music is just a creepier, music box rendition of the main theme from Swan Lake. A Bomberman vs. Zombies doesn’t completely ruin the formula it shamelessly apes but it’s still a knock-off just the same.