With so many hardcore action games and first-person shooters the Xbox 360 can be an incredibly hostile environment for family-friendly party games. Microsoft`s first attempt at the party game genre, Fuzion Frenzy 2, was a dismal failure and there aren`t many gamers out there holding their breath for the upcoming Viva Piñata: Party Animals. But while the Xbox 360 is having a tough go at the party genre things seem to be looking up for Microsoft`s Xbox Live Arcade service. This year alone we`ve had the opportunity to go into battle with a bunch of Worms, learn how to play Catan, and fall in love with Small Arms. But don`t look now, because the king of all multiplayer party games is back and ready to regain its rightful throne. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Bomberman Live!

Originally released for the MSX back in 1983, Bomberman is one of those classic game franchises that seem to find its way onto every console of the past 25 years. At this point it`s almost easier to count the number of systems Bomberman didn`t show up on (Atari Jaguar, WonderSwan Color ...), so it shouldn`t surprise anybody that Hudson has decided to bring the cute little pyrotechnic to the Xbox Live Arcade.

Of course, this isn`t the first time Bomberman has been released on the Xbox 360. Fans of painful video game experiences (or people that love to throw money away) will remember last year`s atrocious Bomberman: Act Zero, a hard-edge Bomberman update that featured a mean looking robot-like character in a futuristic world. Bomberman Live wisely pretends that Act Zero never happened and offers us a chance to play the original Bomberman the way he was meant to be experienced - as an adorable character that you see from a distant overhead perspective. Not only is this a total return to form for the blue bomber, but it`s also one of the best versions of Bomberman we`ve seen since Bomberman `93 on the TurboGrafx-16 (the game that many consider to be the definitive version of Hudson`s long running party franchise).

At this point it`s hard to believe that there are people out there who have never had the opportunity to play Bomberman, but if you fit into that category then here`s a quick guide to everything you need to know about this exhilarating party game. In Bomberman the object is to be the last man standing. In order to win you navigate your bomber through a maze-like world where you can drop bombs and lay down traps. The bombs you lay down are easy to predict, when a bomb explodes the resulting fire jets out in four directions - up, down, left and right. It`s your job to stay out of the way of that explosion and try to trap other players in situations where they can`t help but be incinerated by the flame. Do this without dying and you`re the winning and it`s off to the next round.

While that`s a quick overview of the game, there is actually a bit more to Bomberman than meets the eye. A large part of this game is learning what each of the power-ups do. As you blow up blocks and objects that litter the level you will find a number of power-ups, each one making it a little easier to blow up the other characters. Some power-ups will let you lay down multiple bombs at the same time, others will increase the size of your explosion, and others will make you speed up and kick the bomb. And that`s just the tip of the iceberg, depending on which mode you play you will run into a lot of crazy power-ups that have the potential to completely change the flow of the game. Thankfully all of the power-ups are detailed in the instruction manual (which you can pull up at any time in the pause menu), so learning what everything does is only a button press away.

Like all great party games, Bomberman is an easy game to p...