Bomber hehhe - DREAMCAST

[Sketcz]

Im surprised, no first play topic of this?

Anyway, not the newest DC game, but it might help those interested in the game.

Overall, quite a nice DC game, starting off as a cerebral puzzler vagually reminiscent of Tetris, where you have knock down a building and basically make space.
Once all levels are unlocked, its more like a domino simulator, where you can set up pretty displays of various buildings falling down.



To knock down a building:
The minimum % quota will always be 70%, sometimes higher. Destroy 70% and you complete the level.

Place bombs on pillars.
Each pillar has a strength, as does each bomb. Once enough damage has been done to a pillar, it collapses. Some pillars with low strength might only require 1 bomb on it, others which are stonger will also need to be touched by the blast from nearby explosions.

Some bombs are small and focused, others are big with a wide radius. All of them have a mini preview, so you can see exactly how far it will reach within the building.

Buildings are basic physics. Unbalance, and use the buildings weight to take it down. Knock down the support pillars on one side, make it lean, then blast the pillars on the far side to send it tumbling down.

Each bomb has a price though, meaning you dont have unlimited bombs.

Each bomb has a timer fuse as well. Setting them off in a good order is key to success, where 0.5 seconds can make a big difference.

When you are ready to detonate the building, push start.
It should bring up 3 options in Japanese:

* Reset building (removes all bombs)
* Detonate building
* Resume game


At the end of a level, you are given 3 grades:
Destruction %
Collatoral Damage %
??? - 3rd is unknown and doesnt seem to affect the game, score or cost effectiveness perhaps?

Collatoral damage is how much of the surrounding area you destroy. Placing big bombs on the outside will send debri everywhere, destroying nearby buildings. Most levels dont need you to pay attention to this, but some will place a limit on how much damage you can do.
If theres no limit, it doesnt matter how much you destroy, reaching your Destruction quota will complete the level.


Modes:

Story mode - basic game mode, cut scenes can be skipped with start
Free mode - freely play any completed level (check back after completing the game, since you unlock over a dozen extra levels to play with)
Mini games - arcade style action mini games, use the d-pad to change the camera angle, making some levels much easier.

Talk mode - wierd mode where you converse in Japanese wioth co-workers. Best avoided since the need to answer questions in order to advance makes it nearly unplayable. All levels here are the exact same ones found in Story Mode.

Options - contrary to popular opinion, this has nothing to with bavarian ham, but instead allows you to tweak various game settings.


Of important note, is the UFO level:

To destroy the ufo, all 6 engines need to be detonated simaltaneously.
To do this, wide radius bombs need to be placed mainly on the central floor between the engines. This will take much practice, but can be done using only 8 bombs I believe. Worry only about the engines, and since its divided into 2 sides, focus first one one side, and then the other.
Use only half your timer slots, and do the left side. Once youve got the first engines detonating at the same time, use whats left of your time slots working on the other side of the ship. It will help you keep track of things.

Final Levels:

The 2nd and 3rd last levels need you to detonate the crystals, hich will set off a big reaction blowing the whole level.
Ignore the pillars, focus ONLY on those crystals. Get them to collide with each other from up high for some big fireworks.

On the very last level, you need attach bombs to 3 spikes on the ceiling, set the fuses at about 5 seconds. (play around with this, other times may yield better results)
The spikes should be directly above the core of the cavern.
Then detach these spikes with a wide radius bomb. This should make them plummet down, and if the timing on the bombs is correct, they should detonate right next to the core, destroying the whole level.

If you need anymore help, or menu translations, do let me know and Ill do my best to help.

Also, expect a review from me soonish.

[Smeghead]

always been interested in this but never got around to buying it,

looks like it's perfectly playable to non japanese speakers then

[Sketcz]

pretty much, you lose the narrative, and talk mode, but really with the above explained its all easy to work through.

Just think "Jinga" when trying to topple the buildings.
The experimenting can be quite fun.

A review by me is in the works and *should* be up at some point. So keep an eye peeled.