Super Bomberman R

I went in expecting a safe, comfortable return to grid-based bombing chaos, and that is mostly what I got. Super Bomberman R arrived on PC in June 2018 as a port of the Nintendo Switch launch title, developed by Konami alongside HexaDrive with former Hudson Soft staff on board. That pedigree shows: the core loop of planting bombs, collecting power-ups, and cornering opponents in tight mazes feels authentic and is genuinely satisfying when it clicks. The problem is that everything surrounding that loop ranges from decent to deeply uninspired. The single-player campaign sends the eight Bomberman Rangers across six themed planets, each with its own set of stages and a large boss waiting at the end. The story leans into goofy cartoon energy, with fully voiced cutscenes that some players will find charming and others will skip immediately. The stages themselves have variety in structure: multi-level arenas where bomb blasts travel over ramps but not across gaps, missions that ask you to rescue civilians or hit switches instead of just clearing enemies, and boss fights that are visually impressive but let down by a camera that can't always track the action properly. Two-player local co-op runs through the whole campaign, which adds genuine replay value. Solo, the experience feels thin. Most enemies are passive, and your deaths come almost exclusively from your own bombs, not clever opposition. Multiplayer is where the game actually lives. Standard mode supports up to eight players in the classic last-bomber-standing format across nineteen battlegrounds that include ice surfaces, springboards, and moveable blocks. Grand Prix mode, added post-launch, splits players into teams for point-based competition using either a Basic Bomber deathmatch ruleset or a Crystals variant where players collect gems to score. Revenge carts let eliminated players rejoin matches in a weakened state, which keeps lobbies active. The power-up roster covers the classics: bomb kicks, throwing gloves, firepower boosts, and speed upgrades. Character abilities add a modest layer of asymmetry, with Konami guest characters like Pyramid Head and Simon Belmont bringing unique traits that shake up match dynamics. On PC, the exclusive guest character is Portal 2's P-Body, a nice touch. Online ranked play runs a league ladder from Baby all the way to God tier, which gives competitive players something to chase. The catch, and it is a meaningful one, is that the Steam player base is small and aging. Finding populated matches outside of Standard mode can be a waiting game. The critical reception landed in mixed territory, and the Steam reviews at 56% positive reflect that honestly. The main charges against the game are fair: it adds very little to a formula that has not changed in decades, the solo campaign is serviceable at best, and the PC version launched into a thin online community. Camera quirks during boss fights and a default tilted playfield angle in story mode are minor irritants that take adjustment. None of it is broken, but none of it surprises you either. If you have two or more friends willing to sit down for local multiplayer, Super Bomberman R delivers the exact kind of frantic, grid-based chaos the series has always been good at. If you are planning to play solo or hoping for a thriving online scene, the game has real limitations that the mixed reviews already warned you about.

Alex · Scout Team

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