The first thing you will notice in Bomberman is the face lift of the characters and universe to mimic some kind of uber futuristic, Halo wannabee, domo arigato Mr. Roboto atmosphere. Gone is the cutesy colorful look once loved by fanatics of the series, and without their permission or consent, the developers decided to take matters into their own hands and appeal to the blind masses. What’s more, it just looks okay. There is a nice reflection off of metal surfaces, lighting is so-so, but to call this a next gen title is absurd. The additional mode, called “first person battle”, is really a third person closer view of the action, which kills any strategy and turns more into a game of hide and seek than anything else. Unfortunately, once you’ve seen one level, you have seen them all as only the block placement and colors of your foes will alter throughout the 99 levels of game play.

Thankfully, the gameplay is still more or less the same. You wander around each map placing bombs throughout the maze in an attempt to destroy your foes, all the while picking up power-ups that increase your bomb flame, bomb amounts, and speed.

Sure, the visuals are not what you would expect. The futuristic look is as blasphemous as saying there is no Santa Claus. However, the worst thing the developers could have done was to not provide single console multiplayer… and they have done it. That’s right, at home with your group of friends, you can only gather around and idly watch as one player goes through the motions as even with 4 controller support, the game offers NO multiplayer for a single console. The only way you can duke it out is online, which is fun if not limited, but totally inexcusable! What’s more, if you do want to play the solo missions, you must complete all 99 levels in one sitting, on one life, and with no saves or continues. Even worse, every time you die, you cannot start over from the same screen. You must leave the mode, watch it load, choose the mode again, watch the unskippable video montage of your robots being dropped in, until you can start again. Why no option of “wanna play again?” To that, I say…lazy, just play lazy.

Overall, there are only two reasons to purchase Bomberman: Atrocity…err Act Zero. Firstly, if you know enough people who will buy and play this game online, as it is already difficult to find opponents. And secondly, if you need to add the achievements to your Gamer Score. Otherwise, this game would have been better suited for Xbox Live Arcade action for only 400 points, at least then I would not feel ripped off.