When a game publisher has a popular franchise, they will often coordinate the release of the next installment across multiple platforms. Such is the case with Bomberman Land, which recently saw the release of games for the Wii, DS, and PSP. The games are meant to follow similar story lines, but the controls and game mechanics can be very different. After spending time with both the Wii and DS versions of Bomberman Land, one clearly stood out as more fun, and less frustrating. Even though they both are a collection of mini-games, and both retail for $29.99, one of them is clearly the wiser investment. Want to know which one? Click the "read more" link below for the full review.

Story
Bomberman Land Touch! 2 (BLT2) for the Nintendo DS has you playing the part of Cheerful White, and you are traveling with all the other Bombermen and Bomberwomen to a fanciful island theme park. Before you reach the island, a mysterious enemy causes the ship to wreck and you awake on the shore confused. You begin playing games throughout the park, and as you complete them successfully, you earn pieces to unlock new areas.

In Bomberman Land Wii, you also play as Cheerful White, although you can rename your character. You are summoned to Bomberman Land to compete against other Bombermen and Bomberwomen and eventually defeat The Champion, a character who looks a lot like you, except with sunglasses and a mariachi outfit. The first criticism of the game is that the intro cutscenes and conversations, which cannot be skipped, take about 18 minutes to complete. After that, you'll be wandering around talking to people trying to figure out how to play, so don't expect to play any games for a good 20 minutes. The DS version gets you into the game much faster.

The characters within the story stay relatively the same. Giant Gold has his henchmen Kid Blue and Bookworm Green, and is in love with Cute Pink (one of the few girls in either game), who is oblivious to Giant Gold's advances. You have to interact with these characters throughout the games to progress, but the DS version seems to have the deeper story line, which is somewhat surprising.

Story winner: Bomberman Land Touch! 2

Gameplay
Both versions of Bomberman Land focus on mini-games. The DS version uses the touchscreen for all controls in the entire game, so none of the games use any buttons. You'll start off drawing on the screen to bend silverware, but shortly you'll be balancing on a unicycle or rafting down a river. The controls are varied, but they are all very accurate. Sometimes it takes a few times through the game to figure out the best strategy, but there are no penalties for replaying a game, and by playing it again once you complete it, you can earn coins that you'll need to buy items for completing certain puzzles.

The Wii version also focuses on mini-games, but due to the tournament-style competition that the main storyline uses, you have to practice the mini-games before playing in the competitive rounds. Just jumping into the games will probably lead to failure, as the controls are not always the most intuitive. Oftentimes the idea behind the mini-game seems flawed, or the requirements for completing the game are higher than seems reasonable. The overall structure of unlocking games seems to be flawed, as it takes a long time to practice and master a game well enough to complete it in the competitive rounds.

Both games include original Bomberman-style games, where you lay bombs in a playing field and try to avoid their explosions. Both versions use classic button controls, and the Wii remote is held sideways in classic NES fashion. The gameplay isn't deep for classic Bomberman, but the experience is always tense and exciting.

Gameplay winner: Bomberman Land Touch! 2

Graphics
Both versions of Bomberman Land have cute, kid-friendly graphics, with the Wii version obviously being more complex. Bomberman Land Touch! 2 uses an isometric view to create a pseudo-3D world, but all of the games themselves take place in 2D environments. Both versions allow you to customize your character's clothes, but the Wii version is the only one that changes how you look in the game itself, and the Wii versions offers a lot more options. Clothes and items in the DS version are used to solve puzzles and unlock new areas, so it's more important to be able to hold onto everything you gather so that you can use it later. The Wii version contains no inventory management, and it doesn't seem possible to change outfits without simply repurchasing the items in the Shop.

Both versions use the graphics on their respective systems well, even if neither are greatly impressive. Due to the more complex nature of Bomberman Land Wii, and the greater amount of character customization, the Wii version wins the graphics round.

Graphics winner: Bomberman Land Wii

Multiplayer
If you're looking for a game to play traditional Bomberman battles, either the Wii or the DS would be a great choice. With the Wii version you'll need extra controllers, and with the DS version your friends will need their own DS, but in neither case will they need their own copy of the game. Since Bomberman '93 is available on the Virtual Console, you don't need to spend $30 for Bomberman battles on the Wii, if that's all you're looking for. BLT2 has online play via the Nintendo WFC, so you can play with other Bomberman experts around the world, and friend codes let you keep up with your friends.

Since both new versions of Bomberman Land are pushing their mini-game modes, you really have to examine which games are more fun to play. After spending hours with both games, I found many games on Bomberman Land Wii to not be worth the effort. There are very few games that more than one person can play at a time, and several of those are either frustrating to control, or frustrating to understand. The mini-games in BLT2 are much easier to understand initially, and follow the mantra "easy to play, hard to master", which is how the most fun games often work.

Both Bomberman Land games offer mini-games. Both offer multiplayer Bomberman matches. In those regards they are fairly evenly matched. I like the ability to play online Bomberman matches that BLT2 has to offer, but a few of the Bomberman Wii games are more fun to play repeatedly with friends in the same room. It really has to be left up to the individual gamer to decide which is more important to them.

Multiplayer winner: DRAW

Conclusion
Looking back at both versions of the game in this review, it appears that they are pretty evenly matched. Bomberman Land Wii may be the better party game, but Bomberman Land Touch! 2 has more consistent controls. Bomberman Land Wii has better graphics, but Bomberman Land Touch! 2 has online matches. It might sound like both games were fun to play, but after spending time playing both, I must say that the overall experience I had with Bombermand Land Touch! 2 was much more enjoyable, and much less frustrating. Yes, there were mini-games that took me a while to master in both, but after hours of playing both, Bomberman Land Wii left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I would advise against getting Bomberman Land Wii for any reason, as there are better party games, and much more fun mini-game collections for the Wii. If you want Bomberman battles, download Bomberman '93 through the Virtual Console. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches.

Bomberman Land Touch! 2 for the Nintendo DS, besides having a really long name, is one of the better mini-game collections for the Wii. The story is fun to play, and if you know anyone else with a DS, you can play lots of games together. The online play really seals the deal for me, even though I'm horrible at Bomberman battles. Not a must buy, but a fun buy for anyone who's a fan of Bomberman.

Overall Winner: Bomberman Land Touch! 2

Other Links:
Bomberman Land Wii Image Gallery
Bomberman Land Touch! 2 Image Gallery