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Genre: Action/Arcade

Format: iPod Game

Developer: Hudson Software Company, Ltd.

Minimum Requirements: 3G iPod nano, iPod classic or 5G iPod (video), iPod Software v1.2

Price: $4.99

ESRB Rating: N/A

Availability: Now

I somehow missed out on the entire Bomberman franchise, but I know of many gamers who swear by it. The game can be traced all the way back to 1983, when it appeared on a bunch of computers I've never heard of. It was when it showed up on the NES in 1987 that it really took off, and variations of the game have been developed for numerous systems since then.

In Bomberman, you play a robot who has grown bored working at a bomb factory, and wants to get out. You know, because he's every man's Bomberman. Who doesn't get bored with their daily job and tries to flee 20 levels to the open outdoors? The difference between us and Bomberman, however, is that we don't have to navigate mazes, bomb enemies, find secret doors and battle bosses to leave our jobs. Well, except for Wal-Mart employees, anyway.

Like nearly every maze game before and after it, Bomberman has you navigating a little character through a top-down view of a walled room. You're being chased by an assortment of bad guys who get progressively faster and sneakier. Unlike other games, however, you don't eat or shoot your enemies, you bomb them. Power-ups will help you on your way, but it's otherwise just you and your bombs throughout.

And the bombs aren't just for killing; that's not all they do. They also blast holes in the walls to help you work your way through them, and to reveal the secret exits to the next level. This all starts off fairly simply, as the monsters are slow and dumb. After about the fifth level, however, things change drastically; the monsters become much more motivated to prevent Bomberman's escape, and the mazes become harder to navigate. You'll need to find power-ups and learn how to properly use them if you want to survive.

After every five of the game's twenty levels, you're presented with a minigame: bowling, a whack-a-mole style game, and one that has you jumping over bombs. They're fun enough as diversions from the main action, thereby serving their purpose as minigames. You can go back and play them on command after completing them, but I'm not sure there's a compelling reason to do so. I should point out you can do this with the game's standard levels, as well, but again, why?

Bomberman looks and sounds great on the iPod, taking advantage of the nostalgic character by presenting nostalgic graphics and music. I'm glad to see developers are not trying to force too much into the look and gameplay of iPod games, and are instead embracing it for what it is. The result are sharp, fun diversion games that are perfect for killing some time here and there.

Unfortunately, no one seems to have an answer for the control problem. Using the click wheel to control Bomberman isn't the exercise in futility that Sonic the Hedgehog is, but it can still be frustrating. To move Bomberman, you either rotate the clickwheel or lightly touch it in the direction you want to move; hit it too hard, and you'll leave the game without warning. Pressing the center button drops the bombs, meaning you'll either have to stop running to drop bombs, or you'll end up thumb wrestling with yourself while trying to control Bomberman with both. Thankfully, the pacing and movement options don't require anything too complex...at least, not until the later stages.

Still, Bomberman is currently about as good a game as you're going to find on the iPod. It's sophisticated and challenging enough to be a legitimate gaming experience, while retaining controls that are mostly manageable. I'd like to see games of this stort continuing to come our way, but the iPod click wheel will only take you so far before you'll want to...well, bomb it, man.

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