Now tired of: Bomberman Live

Bomberman Live on the Xbox is a fun, family-friendly little game, if you don't mind your children talking about blowing stuff up. But right now I'm suffering from a bit of Bomberman overload because my son loves it so much.

Why it rocks:

• Customizable. There's a great deal of character customization in the form of outfits unlockable through gameplay. You can make your bomber a princess, a cheerleader, a punk, a football player, a mage or a superhero Or you can be mental and mix 'em up, creating your own superhero cheerleader mage. Or football player cheerleader punk.
  
  In addition, you have your choice of what powerups you can make available and what type of game you want to play -- including an intense zombie version in which characters are immortal, and whoever owns the most squares wins. Just when you think you have the game in hand -- boom! You die, all your colored squares disappear, and you are resurrected with the added disadvantage of being stripped of all your powers with the time ticking down.
  
  
• Enjoyable gameplay. This is a direct result of the customization. It's a blast to blast your AI and player opponents in a variety of ways, aided by a variety of powerups, and in a variety of arenas.


• It's not Fusion Frenzy 2. Hudson Entertainment, the creators of Bomberman 2, pretty much killed the esteemed Fusion Frenzy franchise by making 2 so incredibly lousy, with a ridiculous tournament mode that included a silly playable card system. But I shouldn't rant about that here. Bomberman Live is luckily not that game, though my son also loves Fusion Frenzy 2. What is it about Hudson Entertainment games that my son loves so much?
  
  
• Cute art style and ambiance. The arenas and characters are very cartoonish, including a space level and an ice level, with environmental challenges specific to each arena. The experience is rounded out with cartoonish explosions and cartoonish powerups you gather up during the round. Watch out for the fully powered-up dangerous bomb! The fun retro synthy gameplay music adds to the spirit of the game. However, if you stay on the same arena for an extended period of time, the synth music can get stale, much the way it did back in the days of Mario.

What's wrong with it:

• Playing it too darn much. After a while, planting bombs and running around like a mouse in a maze over and over and over just gets old. So very, very old. Like reality TV.