PixlBit

More expansive and polished than the first one, this game is no bomb

Hey everyone, last week I reviewed Bomberman 64, which you can read here if you missed it. Second Attack is the direct sequel to that game, but we'll see that there's a lot more to SA than the first one. This game was released in 2000 on N64 and was developed by Hudson and published by Vatical Entertainment. 

The story mode opens up with Bomberman traveling through space in his very own spaceship. Suddenly the ship veers off course and is sucked up right into a black hole! Along with Bomberman is a mysterious egg which he must have found on another planet. He awakens to find himself locked up in some kind of prison cell. The egg hatches and out comes Pommy, who can speak perfectly upon being born. Pommy retrieves your fire stone so you can lay bombs again, and the two set off to escape the place. 

Right away you'll notice a few things. First off, your bombs are back to the traditional style of blowing up in a cross pattern (whereas Bomberman 64 had them explode in a circular pattern). Also, you cannot kick or pick up bombs right away; these are upgrades which you must find somewhere in the level. You can also find skates to make you walk faster, flames to increase your bomb's explosive range, bombs to increase how many you can lay at a time, and even money. Another great addition is the fact that Pommy can be played by a second character; as Pommy, you can punch enemies, but the little guy won't fight in boss battles. Still, two player cooperative play is a big plus for this game. Another thing is that Pommy can evolve into different forms by collecting certain kinds of fruit; this gives the game another unique aspect. 

The story is somewhat complicated. Rukifelth, the main villain, wants to get all the elemental stones so he can unleash an awesome power. His astral knights are guarding their own stones, and Bomberman has the fire stone. There are seven astral knights, which you will fight at seven different planets. They remind me of the Mega Man robot masters, each having a different power (although they have weird names, like Molok and Zoniha). After you beat one, you will get his elemental stone, which allows you to lay a new kind of bomb, opening up new areas. Only certain bombs can blow up certain obstacles. 

                            The Astral Knights: "Don't mess with us!"

Each planet will have you going around, searching for where to go next. Many times you will have to defeat all the enemies in a room for the door to open, or find a switch. Eventually you'll meet an astral knight, and a mini-boss battle will begin. I didn't think any of these guys were terribly hard, just run around and set bombs behind you. Your remote control is always disabled before you fight, which is a pain, but it makes it more challenging. After defeating the astral knight, you'll get his stone, then you can lay new bombs. You continue on to the gravity generator room, where you'll have to destroy all the little towers in order to shut off the force-field and destroy the generator. These can be tough, making you think and exploiting the different types of bombs very well. 

After each level is a cutscene. Rukifelth, like any good villain, likes to monologue. At first, the scenes will have the astral knights standing around, talking about how they're going to kill Bomberman and making fun of eachother, but later it's just Rukifelth babbling on about his plans. The astral knights always speak before they show up, which must have been "so cool" back then, but it doesn't make any sense. These cutscenes always end with Rukifelth laughing.

 

For those who have played Bomberman 64, you'll recognize a certain astral knight named Belzeeb, who you fought as Regulus in the first game. This is the only tie-in between the two games. Belzeeb remembers Bomberman and wants to defeat him; he lives to fight strong opponents, he says, and he has respect for Bomberman. He'll make it farther than the other astral knights, but will end up dying at the hands of Rukifelth at the end. 

The gameplay is solid, although the levels are too short. However, they offer a great variety with the different planets (prison planet, aqua planet, nature planet, so on). The puzzles can only go so far when you're dealing with bombs, but thanks to the inclusion of the different bomb types, the puzzles feel more fresh. Certain enemies are weaker to certain bomb types, and the shadow bombs will create a black hole that sucks enemies right in and make them vanish. The story is not very interesting, and I found myself getting bored with the long cutscenes, but Pommy brings life and personality to the game, always offering his own opinions to Bomberman, which the hero will respond to by tapping his foot or looking aggitated. You gotta love Pommy!

You'll be given unlimited continues, but you will only be able to continue three times with your power-ups; after that, you will lose all your power-ups and have to get them again. Finding the power-ups is a pain, but I suppose it's the player's fault for dying. Unlike in Bomberman 64, getting hit by an explosion won't kill you right away; instead, you will lose a heart. Only by falling into lava or off a cliff will you be killed instantly. On the main map, you can press R and visit the shop, where you can buy more hearts, custom parts to dress up your character for multiplayer mode, hints at the movesets for the astral knights, and even an item that will start you at full power (valuable for sure!). The shop was another great addition to the game. There are also armor parts which you can find throughout the game that will give Bomberman his kicking and throwing abilities permanently. They also make him look pretty cool. 

Second Attack is a great game, but it still has flaws. Some enemies will lunge at you very quickly and hit you unexpectedly; sometimes it even happens when you expect it! As mentioned before, some rooms will require you to kill all the enemies before the door opens; you will have to do this every time you enter the room, which becomes a chore. There will also be times when you will have to kick ice bombs into the lava to make platforms, but the placement can be very difficult, resulting in countless deaths and great frustration. I found it easiest to pick up a bomb and lay it directly in front of the platform I'm on, but still you can be hit by the explosion, causing Bomberman to get stunned for a second, which could cause you to fall into the lava since the platforms disappear so quickly. These are only a few flaws in this great game, yet they can really hamper your enjoyment of the overall experience. 

             Here's Bomberman at the Casino Planet. No, I'm serious. 

The music in the game is fantastic! This is no doubt due to the legendary Yasunori Mitsuda lending a hand to the soundtrack, along with six other composers. You can tell that certain songs were composed by Mitsuda because you can hear his distinct style, such as the beautiful Chrono Cross-like theme which plays for the main map. Many of the planet themes are very bouncy and catchy. Mitsuda would go on to compose music for some other Hudson games, such as Mario Party 1 and 2.

I have to be honest, I don't understand the "Second Attack" title. I imagined that Planet Bomber would be attacked again, but that is not the case. The second attack couldn't be coming from Bomberman since he's never fought Rukifelth before. Perhaps it is referring to the second battle between Bomberman and Bulzeeb (Regulus), but why name the whole game after that? If you think you know what it means, please let me know. 

Multiplayer! The multiplayer in SA is even better than the first game! There are five different battle modes: Survival, Battle Royal, King and Knights, Key Trial, and Score Attack. Suffice to say, survival is the best. Human players will be a bomberman, but the computers can be any number of characters, including a monkey, a cat, a penguin, or more fantasy-style characters. This is a good amount of variety, considering the battle has not even started yet! Choose a location and the battle will begin. You can blow up stuff to find items, such as skates, flames, bombs, or bad items which will decrease your fire power or speed. Other power-ups can be found, such as the one which makes all the living characters giant and slow. Once an opponent is killed, he will come back as a ghost. Ghosts can jump onto other players and try to make them run into bombs; the ghost function means that everyone will keep playing to the end of the match, a great idea for those who die early on in the battle. The matches can become very tense and fun. B64:SA is one of the best multiplayer games on the N64. 

Final Verdict--4 Stars: Recommended

Great level design and fun mini-bosses make this game shine. Great music and killer multiplayer excel it even higher on that pedestal. However, frustrating moments and a story that doesn't really make sense (which you won't care about) hamper the experience. Still, Second Attack is a great action game, with the difficulty being just right. It's not a terribly hard game, but it still has challenges along the way. I wish they would have made more sense of the "Second Attack" subtitle; personally, I was hoping Altair would return as the villain, but Rukifelth was a cool bad guy. Overall, a solid game, and a great addition to the N64 library. 

Okay, so I wasn't going to do this, but just the other day, I found Bomberman Hero at a game store, so we'll be looking at that one next week. Hero came between these two games (1998) and is very different from them, being a full-on platformer. See you then!