Frankly, I’m amazed that a violent and terribly inappropriately named game “Bomberman” could still get by in this ultra politically correct day and age.

It's just as well though; I’m not sure how much fun it would still be if the bombs were replaced with more family friendly water balloons! And besides if that happened then his name would have to be changed as well- maybe something like Pansyman. What do you think?

Bomberman is simple. He really only has one true pleasure in life - and that is to plant huge bombs and make things go boom!

In this, the series hasn't changed much since its debut by Hudson Soft in 1983.

“Bomberman” has been on every system known to man, from the arcade, to the SNES, to the GBA, N64, Saturn, PS1, PS2, Dreamcast, and now DS.

SideNote: Bomberman has just been released on Xbox Live Arcade!

For those wondering just what the heck I’m been talking about, the “Bomberman” series has always been a kind of action/ puzzle game where you're plopped down in an field full of blocks, power-ups, monsters and/or other players, and you must defeat enemies using your bombs, while at the same time being careful not to get caught in your own blasts. It is often described as “easy to learn yet hard to master.”

In “Bomberman Land Touch!” for DS, it’s kinda like that but different! You get to choose between 3 different gameplay modes- Land Mode, Attraction Mode or Battle Pack Mode.

One day, Cheerful White, the main character was kidnapped by pirates out of the blue. They took him to Bomber Island, the world’s largest pirate-themed amusement park. Little did Cheerful White realize that the pirates were a surprise birthday present from Giant Gold’s dad. Now with all his friends, another adventure is set to begin.

In Land Mode, you control the Cheerful White Bomber, using the stylus to drag him around the island, playing minigames for prizes and talking to people. Single player game, is that you'll often lose track of what your doing or what it is you're supposed to do next. There is an Information Center located at the entrance to the park, but it doesn't really offer you any real information. You'll also receive e-mail messages from the other Bomber's at the park, but even these messages don't do much to help you when you're lost. Because you're hopelessly lost and keep running into to the same darn people you’ll hear the same things over and over again. Also, there is a large amount of backtracking and having to replay a lot of the same minigames over again in order to collect more pieces and make progress.

Again, the idea here is to explore the island, to interact with the eclectic cast of characters, and oh yeah don’t forget the many minigames and events!

At first, White Bomber (WB) is only able to get around a small part of the island and doesn't get very far - there are gates all around the area and for WB to pass through the gates, he'll need to find a "Piece".

Now I know what you're thinking - what the heck does a guy named Bomberman need a "piece" for?

The "Piece" I am referring to has nothing to do with weaponry of any kind, silly!

The "pieces" I am talking about are basically keys that are awarded to WB for successfully completing minigames and events! These "pieces" come in 4 different types - spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs - and you'll need to earn them if you want to pass through certain gates or areas within the levels. See, now don't you feel foolish?

For example, there is a dark cave in the beginning of the game that WB can’t enter because of the lack of light. Hmm, I wonder what he needs. These items must be discovered by examining the island and coming upon the many chests scattered throughout.

Land Mode or what I like to call Lonely Uni-Bomberman that takes you through a lame mini story where your job is to guide a small arsonist (shouldn’t this guy be under investigation or something?) around a strange world full of Bomber characters on a RPG quest across an island filled with all sorts of bomb-related minigames that require your quick reaction to matching, sorting, or recognizing objects. Once a minigame is beaten on Land Mode, it is unlocked for you to play in Attraction Mode.

In Attraction Mode you play a bunch of minigame challenges (36 in all) and solve puzzles. Some of these games are quite easy, such as "Boom Dash" in which you simply need to move the stylus back and forth across the screen, from left to right to make Bomberman run to the finish line.

Other games, such as the unbelievably hard "Super Bomb Factory", will have you tearing your hair out. Seriously though, some of them were challenging enough to make a grown woman cry!

But that’s not a bad thing per se; it’s good training for the multiplayer incineration action to come!

The game really explodes (sorry) in multiplayer Battle Pack Mode. Up to 8 players can play a bunch of multiplayer matches, and the best part is its wireless single card play, which means only one person has to actually buy the game!

Everyone can just download off the person who owns the game.

Kudos to the game developers for making sure even the loneliest gamer can now play with others. Or at least blow someone up. Don’t have friends who wish to play with you? No worries. You can also challenge random strangers to matches using the Wi-Fi connection settings!

Whichever way you are playing the multiplayer games, they are all about dropping bombs, blowing stuff up and annihilating enemies, be they human or AI opponents - and blast them to smithereens- without getting caught in the crossfire yourselves! Easier said than done, believe me.

The graphics are perky, bright, and colorful. Nothing new or revolutionary or anything but then again I think it was meant to look like the classic old school style anyway.

Simply put, “Bomberman Land Touch!” is a must-have game. You get a lot of bang for your buck since it’s basically two games in one. There’s the single-player mode for all you RPG fans, the Adventure mode for all you mini-game fans(and really aren’t we all?) and the classic Bomberman multi-player Battle mode for all you fans that like to blow things up to kingdom come(and really aren’t we all?)