Blast Corps

"You must own this game."

Blast Corps is Rareware's second attempt at a N64 game, which was released in 1997. Talk about a home-run to right field...

STORY: 7/10

There's a plot, but it's just filler. Basically, you have to stop a nuclear-warhead carrier from exploding and killing us all. However, you can't stop it manually, and it's on a pre-programmed route, so instead you have to destroy everything in its path using a huge variety of construction machines, cyborgs, and anything you can find in the garage to save the country. If it hits any buildings, game over for you.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

The vehicles themselves look pretty good, and even sport some nice little touches (e.g. the metallic overtones on Thunderfist or J-Bomb) to make it seem more realistic. The city environments themselves are decidedly above-average and sport some great detail, but taking into consideration a large level like this is hampered with the N64's low polygon rate, it does a FANTASTIC job with no fog. The colored explosions and sparks are pure eyecandy...and it tastes good.

MUSIC: 7/10

Rareware is known for their music, and they pull through yet again...to a certain extent. Nearly all the music in this game is of a techno/off beat style, call it what you will, it's pretty good! However, a few of the Bonus Stages just sounded a little, er, well, toilet.

Sound effects are pretty decent, there's nothing I can really complain about. Though, some of the little voices get annoying after a bit...I cringe everytime I hear, "Try something else!"

GAMEPLAY & FUN: 9/10

There are three different kinds of levels to play in this game

1) A Carrier Level in which you have to stop from becoming cinders
2) A Bonus Stage in which you destroy targets in under a certain time
3) A racing area in which you race a car or truck around a track

When you start the game off, you only have two or three Carrier Stages (yes, it's a proper name) to play around with. After you beat the stages, you open up more and more Carrier Stages. However, after you save the world from destruction for the umpteenth time, you start to notice that you're missing a lot of stuff -- to solve this, after beating a Carrier Stage, you can wander back through it and discover secrets! Afterall, it this game was all *smash*, *smash*, it would lose its appeal rather quickly. There are satellites, hidden scientists, vehicles, areas, and 100 RDU's to find after saving the world, in each stage.

By getting 100% on a Carrier Stage, you can unlock Bonus Stages! Bonus Stages have you play as a pre-determined vehicle and beat a challenge built specifically for this character. The first few are pretty bland, but as you get deeper into this mammoth game, you can find a series of balding levels for J-Bomb (everyone's favorite vehicle), a pool-table area, and two Pac-man levels where the dots are RDUs and the ghosts are construction vehicles colored appropriately...that's called "innovation", folks. We haven't seen it in awhile, so there it is if you forgot what it looks like.

The challenge of the game, at first, seems easy, but once you get late into the game, you realize that the creators of this game are a bit psychotic. They seem to had the attitude of, "You're not going to get past this level no matter how many nights you stay up! HAHAHA! But we know you're going to play for hours on end, eventually throw down the controller in frustration, say you'll never play the game again, and play it tomorrow morning!"

Indeed, there are about four or five levels that seem downright impossible, even after days of playing. It's not the controls, they're perfect...it's not the graphics, you can see everything...it's not poor level design, you know exactly what to do...it's that darn thing that keeps blowing up!! Argh!! :p

To destroy buildings, you must learn to control a large variety of different vehicles. There are gigantic mechs, such as J-Bomb with his jetpack and Thunderfirst with his huge punch. Then there's a racecar fitted with rocket engines, two or three construction vehicles, a tricycle fitted with missile launchers, and the infamous BackLash, a dumptruck in which you must spin and knock over structures with its metallic flat bed. It's one of the most powerful vehicles in the game, but almost impossible to steer! You'll continually curse this truck out later in the game, while you're playing the likes of Diamond Sands and Oyster Harbor...

The only reason this category didn't get a perfect 10 is because of the racing tracks (number three up above). You see, after smashing tons of buildings and causing enough damage that could buy you a small country, racing just seems, well, pretty bland. Not to mention they are all easily beaten and just seem like filler. I bet if they put all of the racing tracks together, they could've squeezed in one or two more Carrier Stages...

REPLAY VALUE: 10/10

Longevity in a game is very important when buying a title, because if it's not fun to play after beating it, what's the point? Most games I've seen have pitiful replay value, but Rare always seems to max out a game no matter what.

The major thing to consider would be extra levels or difficulties...and Blast Corps is right behind GoldenEye when it comes to replay value! Here's the basic layout for doing everything in this game:

- Beat Carrier Stages
- Go back and find secrets
- Access Bonus Stages
- Repeat until game is "beaten" (haha)
- Go back to each stage, including bonus, and earn 100% while under a certain time, earning a Golden Medal in the process.
- After earning Golds on ALL the stages, you unlock a secret outerspace level, the Moon! You play it and get a Medal on that...
- And unlock another plant! It keeps going and going until you reach Neptune, which is the last bonus level. As you get a Gold on this, an extra challenge opens up. Upon being activated, each stage has a TIMER. In other words, you have to demolish all the buildings in the Carrier Stages, then exit, in an insane amount of time. If you do this, you get Platinum Medals!
- Get all Platinum Medals on all levels and you get the rank of, "You Can Stop Now." Indeed.

Of course, I forgot to mention, that getting all Platinum Medals IS IMPOSSIBLE. Now, when some game players say this about something, they mean, "My skills are pathetic and I suck. I bet you could get it." Not so with this game, it's more of, "Well, myself, playing games for 15 years, falls on my hands and knees as the game floats above, out of my reach, and mocks my feeble attempts to have fun. Your momma couldn't get the medals!" If you find anyone who claims to have gotten all the Platinum Medals, you should have complete and utter respect for them as a videogamer. Myself, getting 007 Mode and all the cheats in GoldenEye with practical ease, has only gotten 13 Platinum Medals. It seems like I've been carrying this point a bit far, but I thought I should make you note the difficult of it all, which extends replay value considerably.

FINAL COMMENTS:

A four? Two other reviews at Gamefaqs give this game an overall rating of a FOUR?! That's something you give to Spice World, War Gods, or Dual Heroes...not this game! I would also say their reasons for giving it a four weren't exactly...accurate.

Hopefully, people read reviews across the Internet instead of on a single site such as this, and have seen the dozens of sites praise this game for creativity and challenge. Yes, I love a challenge, namely because most games I find easy, and this game delivers on every possible level. I have owned this game for over a year and still try to get 100%...it just won't happen anytime soon. Regardless, this game belongs on the "Sleeper Game of the Century List" along with the likes of Body Harvest, Lemmings, Castelvania: SotN, and Super Dodgeball. If they marketed this game, it could've sold a million easily, so I'm kind of baffled at why they didn't...

OVERALL RATING: 9/10

Un-necessarily signed,
marshmallow

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/99, Updated 12/07/99