Super Bomberman R review by Tyson
Overall
Pass
The Bomberman games is one of the few series that I never really played a lot during my childhood and early teen days of gaming. When I heard of Super Bomberman R being released for the Switch I was pretty excited. I was really looking forward to this new Bomberman game but after playing it I ended up being very disappointed.
Gameplay
In Super Bomberman R the evil Emperor Buggler wants to take control of the universe and it is up to the Bomberman Brothers to fight him and his 5 Dastardly Bombers in the Starry Sky solar system. The story itself is very basic and yet doesn't bother me very much. The story mode has 52 stages to go though and while this may sound like a lot but in reality it is not. Each stage can generally be completed in a few minutes which at most will give the story mode a few hours of play time. Most stages are centered around you defeating a certain number of enemies but a few will have other objectives like collecting keys, pressing switches, or rescuing captured bomberman like people. While the story mode is super short I at least liked how you were constantly being introduced with new mechanics like magnets that pull near bombs to them or things like movable platforms. The boss battles ended up being more frustrating then fun for me.
The gameplay is your common Bomberman setup. You move around in a grid like environment using your bombs to destroy enemies and various objects in the environment. By destroying the objects in the environment you can get collect power-ups that will allow you to drop more bombs, get a bigger blast radius, or being able to do things like kick or throw currently placed bombs. The simple gameplay mechanics can get a bit frustrating at times. It can be easy to kill yourself with your own bombs and dying in one hit was never fun. When you add in other factors like a horrible camera view it makes Super Bomberman R a very frustrating experience at times.
Where Super Bomberman R should succeed is the multiplayer but various factors ruin this. Playing online is a way to much of a gamble between a good performing game and a bad one. Getting into games with controller input lag, or several second long freezes, or long wait times before getting connect to a match end up killing what enjoyment I should be getting out of playing the multiplayer moces. I am also worried about what will happen to the online community once Nintendo starts to charge for it. Thankfully you can avoid the online issues by playing local multiplayer but the possible cost to set this up is something I cant recommended due to Nintendo's high price for additional controllers. I just cant recommend anyone to shell out a possible hundred dollars or more to play this locally with their friends. Sure playing with friends is fun but the cost is a killer.
Control
I came away unimpressed wit the control setup for the game. Using the analog stick to control Bomberman never felt all that great. Using a D-Pad or other buttons to move around felt better but never as perfect as it should. Other factors like how you could get input lag online doesn't help the game out as well.
Graphics
The graphics in Super Bomberman R is the most enjoyable aspect of the game for me. I felt the characters and world looked great but a few things like some ramps being hard to see does hurt the game a bit. I also enjoyed the look of the games cinematics and I liked the charm that they brought to the story mode.
Sound
Overall I felt the sound and various sound effects to be good. I did like the voice of the Bomberman Brothers and other characters but the background music is pretty forgettable.